Elk Grove police arrest grandmother following assault on middle school students
Officers have arrested a grandmother, her 13-year-old granddaughter and the child’s mother in connection with an attack on two middle school students assaulted by a group of people Wednesday afternoon, police said.
The grandmother was arrested Thursday night, and her granddaughter and her mother were arrested several hours after the reported assault, the Elk Grove Police Department announced Friday in an updated news release.
Investigators were still looking for the child’s aunt, 30-year-old Keynisha Mitchell, who police identified as one of the suspects involved in the incident.
The reported assault occurred about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday near Laguna Boulevard and Bruceville Road, not far from Harriet Eddy Middle School on Soaring Oaks Drive.
Police said the assault was captured on video that has been circulating on social media. Three middle school-age kids were walking, when one of them was assaulted by two adults and a juvenile.
A friend of the person being attacked tried to intervene, but a woman hit him with a stick, according to the Police Department. The woman was with the group assaulting the other child, police said. After the assault, the suspects left in a car.
Officers canvassed the area, reviewed video, questioned witnesses and worked with the Elk Grove Unified School District on the assault investigation. Officers later identified four of the suspects.
Shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday, officers arrested Demetria Fowler, 32, and her 13-year-old daughter at their Elk Grove home, police said.
Fowler was arrested on suspicion of corporal punishment of a child, criminal conspiracy, battery and contributing to the delinquency of a child, police said. Her daughter was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, criminal conspiracy and battery. The Police Department did not release her name because she is a minor.
Police identified two other suspects in the reported assault, the girl’s aunt and her grandmother, Robin Morris. Investigators arrested Morris, 53, of Sacramento on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and criminal conspiracy, according to the Police Department.
On Thursday, police said there was a fifth suspect in the assault who had not been identified.
The Police Department was working with the school district and its security staff and will had an increased police presence around the area of Harriet Eddy Middle School.
Detectives asked anyone with knowledge of Mitchell’s whereabouts, video footage of the reported assault or other information relevant to the investigation to call 916-478-8058.
