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By: Staff Reporter
North Tonawanda is once again in the center of a horrific and brutal assault.
Yesterday, around 4:00pm, Sebastian and Jacob, both 17-years-old, were at Carruthers Park in North Tonawanda to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
The teenagers were enjoying themselves when, according to witnesses, two vehicles pulled up to the park. One of the vehicles was a white van with tinted windows and the other a silver Chevy Impala. About eight adults, all men in their 30’s – 40’s, emerged from the vehicles and started to walk over to the teenagers.
Witnesses told police that the adults immediately attacked the teenagers. As one witness put it, the adults “went on a rage.”
The mother of two of Sebastian and Jacob, Heather DiRosa, told the Niagara Reporter, “the police said it was like a scene from a nightmare with beaten kids laying all over.”
DiRosa, who lives in North Tonawanda, said that Sebastian suffered a broken nose and Jacob was repeatedly hit in the stomach and once in the jaw. According to reports, the other teenagers suffered various bruises and lacerations. One witness stated that a teenager was bleeding profusely from his face.
DiRosa told the Niagara Reporter that she is seeking any and all help to find the men responsible for hurting her children.
“The police are having a hard time figuring out who did what to who,” she said. “Both of my sons are severely traumatized.”
Prior to reaching out to the Niagara Reporter, DiRosa took to Facebook to seek public assistance in finding the attackers.
The entire post is below:
So I think one of every parents worst fears is a call that your kid is on their way to the hospital in an ambulance. Today that fear came true for me. Unfortunately not for the first time. But anyways today I got a call with some mixed information about what happened but basically that my sons were assaulted by a group of adult men and were in their way to the hospital. I left work and raced from down town buffalo to degraff hospital in north Tonawanda. I barely remember the ride. I’m sure I was doing 80. I got to the hospital just after my son came out of X-ray. He had a swollen nose and face with a cut on his nose and some other marks and his shirt was soaked with blood. My other son was there with him and is physically ok but in a major panic attack. After talking with the doctor and found out the one who went to X-ray has a fractured nose. So after talking with my kids, and doing some fact finding and talking with police, a group of 8 grown men from the city of Tonawanda came to a park in north Tonawanda at the end of my street looking for someone and in the process jumped and beat up all the kids that were there. All minors. Like really beat them. Cuts bumps bruises and my sons broken nose. There were witnesses who saw it and descriptions of the men and their vehicles were given. It is known now who some of them were. All the kids parents are pressing harassment charges. The detective is pushing for an assault charge for the one that broke my sons nose. I have been dealing with this situation and trying to calm my kids down since I got home. I am tired of being around here. This city has gone straight to shit. My kids don’t even feel safe being in the front yard anymore. And I don’t feel safe leaving them alone here when I have to go to work. And no my kids are not angels by any means but no child/children deserves to be beat down by a full grown man or a group of them. We are pushing for the max charges on all the adults and a restraining order for my kids and my house. But even so I don’t feel safe here anymore. I’ve been miserable here for a while and we all want to get out and get away. So that’s what happened today for those that have been messaging me. I just don’t feel up to talking to anyone at the moment I’m sorry.
The North Tonawanda Police Department is currently investigating the incident but would not respond to a request for comment as the investigation is ongoing. If you have any information about this incident or the individuals responsible, please contact North Tonawanda Police at 716) 692-4111.
The Niagara Reporter will keep you updated as the situation unfolds.