PEORIA, Ariz — Peoria police said detectives are investigating a case of teen violence after a girl was hurt in an ambush attack at a park.
Three people, 18-year-old Christian McCarthy, and two teen girls, were arrested and are facing charges in connection to the attack.
Court documents obtained by 12News said a group of six teens devised a plan to attack the girl after past incidents that occurred within their friend group.
McCarthy allegedly brought the victim to a park in a neighborhood near Lake Pleasant Parkway and Jomax Road where other teens waited to attack her. When the victim got out of the car, the teens surrounded her, punching and kicking her until she was lying motionless on the ground, according to court documents.
The victim was taken to the hospital with head injuries.
Police said the attack wouldn't have happened without McCarthy, who allegedly recorded the incident on his cell phone and could be heard encouraging the others.
12News spoke with McCarthy's mother Monday afternoon. She said she spoke with her son several times from jail but doesn't know what happened.
"I don't know. He's in jail. He's 18 and he's in trouble," McCarthy's mother told 12News. “Why don’t you do the real stuff that’s really happening that’s destroying America and this is part of it."
Advocates against teen violence said this is an issue impacting families across the Valley and nationwide.
“It’s everywhere," Arizona State Conference NAACP Education Chair Shannon Hayes said. “There is a lot of fear and I don’t see it dying down anytime soon because there really aren’t any repercussions.”
Hayes said teen violence is happening more frequently both at school and at home.
She said it's going to take more resources from the entire community to curb the violent trend.
“We’ve got to be talking to the kids to find out what really is the issue, what the issues are, what the challenges are, what they see can be the solutions," Hayes said.
Peoria Police said this is an ongoing investigation.
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