12-Year-Old Girl Charged With Hate Crime After Allegedly Attacking Muslim Twin Classmates

A 12-year-old girl from Connecticut has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly participating in a group attack against twin seventh-grade Muslim students at a middle school in Waterbury.

The girl has been charged with intimidation based on bigotry and bias in the first and second degree in juvenile court.

"Investigators determined that the altercation was motivated by religion and/or ethnicity, meeting the legal definition of a hate crime," said a joint statement by the Waterbury State's Attorney's Office, Waterbury police and city officials.

The group reportedly pulled the hijabs off of two 13-year-old twin girls, continuing to physically assault them in the locker room during gym class. The girls were kicked and punched, and something was dragged across the neck of one of the girls, leaving an abrasion, according to Farhan Memon, chair of the Connecticut chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

"They were beaten up by two of their classmates," Memon said. "One girl had bruises on her face and her sister had something held against her neck."

The father of the girls then took them to the hospital and documented the injuries they received from the attack.

Another student part of the attack "was referred to a youth diversionary program as an alternative to arrest, based on her involvement in the incident," said the city in a statement.

Waterbury Public Schools Interim Superintendent Darren Schwartz said that the incident is "an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to ensure our students are safe and respectful of one another," in a statement.