A homicide investigation is underway after a 12-year-old California died last month from injuries possibly sustained when a classmate hit her in the head with a metal water bottle.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Reseda Charter High School student Khimberly Zavaleta was injured on February 17 while defending her younger sister, who was being bullied. Her family said that days after the incident, blood vessels in Zavaleta’s brain ruptured, leading to her death on Wednesday.
“At dismissal time, she was in the school hallway when a tall boy came up to her … he was pushing her, and my daughter told him, ‘What’s your problem with me? Let’s go to the principal’s office and talk about it’ but he ignored her,” Zavaleta’s mother told KABC.
The mother said Zavaleta stepped in to protect her younger sister — and that’s when she was struck in the head with the metal water bottle.
KABC reported that the altercation was caught on camera, but not the moment when someone throws the bottle at Zavaleta.
“My daughter goes and pulls her away, so they don’t hit her sister, and that’s when [Zavaleta] gets hit in the head,” the mother said. “In the video, you can see them pulling [Zavaleta]. At one point, they hit her hard on the head, which led her to where she is now – in a morgue.”
KTLA reported that after the incident, Zavaleta went to the emergency room and was sent home. Days later, she collapsed and was taken back to the hospital with a brain hemorrhage.
Zavaleta was placed in a medically-induced coma and underwent emergency surgery before her heart gave out, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles police’s Robbery-Homicide Division, Valley Bureau Section confirmed it is investigating Zavaleta’s death, but declined to provide details about the case. Los Angeles Unified School District officials told The Los Angeles Times that they are cooperating with the ongoing investigation.
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