12-Year-Old In Campbell River Attacked In Video Shared To Social Media

A 12-year-old in Campbell River was attacked in video shared to social media.

Betty Gillis says she felt like throwing up when she first saw the video of her son defenseless on the ground being attacked by at least three other young people.

It happened around 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 22, in a gravel lot near Hilchey Road and Penfield Road.

A young girl witnessed it and then ran home to tell her mom who called 911.

Gillis’s son had been heading to a nearby skatepark with his new bike when he came across the group of youths.

Police say they’re aware of who the kids in the video are and are dealing with them, but they’re also concerned about threats of vigilantism that are popping up online.

Campbell River RCMP Constable Maury Tyre says, “It’s actually getting to a point of encouraging vigilantism against young people right now which is extremely problematic.”

He says even though they are youths, they could still face charges.

“The Criminal Code determines whether they have committed a crime or not so they can be charged in terms of incidents where someone is hitting someone with a foreign object, that’s assault with a weapon,” he added.

There’s been an outpouring of support for Gillis and her son online including from Zack Zacharias who teaches Brazilian Jiu jitsu in Willow Point. He’s offered to teach her son the form of self-defense for free.

Gillis says her son knows those who attacked him.

“Tell anyone and I’ll come back for you,” one of the young assailants can be heard saying in the video as the attackers walked away.

Violent crimes by youths is on the rise nationally. Statistics Canada released its crime severity index on July 27, which showed there is a 26.36 percent increase in the severity of violent crimes involving youth since the year before.