Video Shows Teens Beating Up Student in Bathroom in 'Targeted' Attack

A video showing a teen being beaten in the bathroom at a school in Illinois has made its way across social media, raising concerns about a "targeted" attack.

During the 2019-20 school year, 77 percent of public schools recorded that one or more incidents of crime had taken place, amounting to 1.4 million incidents, according to National Center for Education Statistics. Amid the increase in school violence, parents are raising safety concerns for their children.

A recent altercation involving a high school student in Wheaton, Illinois, circulated on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday as video showed a male student lying on the floor of a bathroom as he was being kicked and hit by two other students. A subsequent video shared with Patch appears to show other students lifting the same student, who appears to be unconscious, and dragging him out of the bathroom into a common area of the school.

The violent altercation happened on February 28 at Community Unit School District 200. The school's principal, Lorie Campos, addressed the altercation in an email sent to parents on February 28, saying that there have been a few physical altercations between students on campus, adding that that the altercations had been "targeted."

"As the Principal at South, I am deeply disappointed that these incidents have occurred as this type of behavior does not represent the school culture that we are proud of, or that we expect from our students," Campos wrote in the email. "Please know that we will not tolerate these behaviors under any circumstances. We will continue to work with our students to help guide them in their decision making and help them find other ways to resolve conflict."

The reason for the altercation remains unclear. Newsweek has reached out to the Wheaton Police Department and the Community Unit School District 200 via email for comment.

Since the altercation, videos have been shared online, sparking concern from parents.

X user Libs of TikTok shared the video of the incident alongside an alleged Facebook post from a concerned parent from Wheaton which states the concern amid the violence.

"There are some videos circulating that has us and a few other families extremely worried," the screenshot of Wheaton Area Parents read.

The concern comes after another email was sent to parents on March 2 in which Campos wrote that "we can affirm that the District is actively engaged in addressing the incidents and ensuring the safety of its students," but that officials are "limited in our ability to comment on the incidents or address the speculation and rumors that are circulating in the community."

This is not the first time a student was involved in a physical altercation in a school bathroom.

In late February,16-year-old Nex Benedict, who identified as nonbinary, died one day after being involved in a "physical altercation" in a high school bathroom in a small town outside Tulsa, Oklahoma, sparking outrage across the country.

The teen's mom, Sue Benedict, said in an interview with British news outlet The Independent that Nex had faced bullying at Owasso High School for more than a year. "I didn't know how bad it had gotten," the mother said.

In recent years, transgender youth have been faced with hundreds of bills nationwide as conservative lawmakers have been moving to limit LGBTQ people's rights to access health care, use bathroom facilities, and participate in sports in places such as Texas, Florida and Virginia. Additionally, several schools and school districts have adopted policies on transgender students, including removing accommodations for transgender students.