School, Students Alarmed by Attack on 12-Year-Old : Crime: Teachers in San Clemente try to caution classes about the dangers of the outside world after a boy is robbed of $20 by two teens. The assailants are being sought.
SAN CLEMENTE — School officials and students were disturbed Friday by the news that a 12-year-old boy was attacked and robbed by a pair of teen-agers after he got off the school bus.
“This kind of thing is a real rarity in our area. In fact, it’s almost unheard of,†said Jim Krembas, the principal at Shorecliffs Middle School, where the boy is a student. “I think these boys who attacked him were just bullies, but it’s left us all pretty shook up.â€
Orange County sheriff’s deputies are searching for two male Latinos ages 16 or 17, one of whom is about 6 feet tall and weighs in excess of 200 pounds, Lt. Ron Wilkerson said Friday.
The teen-agers approached the 12-year-old at 4:10 p.m. Thursday near the San Clemente intersection of Avenida Del Mar and North Calle Seville shortly after he got off the school bus and it pulled away.
“They walked up to him and asked if he had any money,†Wilkerson said. “He said, no, he didn’t. The big one punched him once in the stomach, and he fell to the ground, doubled up. They removed his wallet from his pocket and took out his $20. They walked away laughing.â€
The punch knocked the boy’s wind out and he had difficulty talking, but he suffered no serious injuries and returned to school Friday, Wilkerson said.
Krembas said the assault had left students with the queasy feeling that, no matter what they do, no matter how street-wise or careful they are, some incidents may be unavoidable.
“This was never an issue of school security,†Krembas said. “The young man had gotten off the bus and was on his way home. If it had happened any sooner, the bus driver might have been able to see it and somehow prevent it, but it happened as the boy walked home.â€
Teachers and Krembas began a campaign of quietly cautioning students about the perils that can sometimes await them in the outside world.
The principal said he had no idea why the boy was carrying $20, but police said the sum of money didn’t matter anyway--the boy had been verbally accosted and punched in the stomach before his assailants even knew how much he was carrying.
“We tell our students not to bring large sums of money to school and never to flash their money around,†Krembas said. “The [assailants] were not students of ours, so they had no way of knowing how much money the boy had. It was probably just a lark on their part. They were probably quite surprised to find $20 in there.â€
Krembas said the boy’s father was “quite distraught†over the incident but could not be reached for comment Friday.
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