FWCS student beaten with baseball bat

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A Fort Wayne Community Schools student is currently in intensive care after being beaten in the head with a baseball bat by another student Wednesday morning.

According to the Fort Wayne Police Department, officers were called to Memorial Park Middle School in the 2200 block of Maumee Avenue on a report of a fight with a party armed around 11:00 a.m. Wednesday.  

When officers arrived they learned two students, both boys, had been involved in a disturbance during gym class.

Police said while the two were arguing, one of the students got a full-size wooden baseball bat from a closet and forcefully hit the other student in the head with the bat.

Police said the victim was determined to be in fair condition at the school and taken to a local hospital. As of Thursday afternoon, police said the boy is still hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit.

The other student was taken to the Allen County Juvenile Center on a misdemeanor charge of battery.

Many parents are shocked at the violence. Don Stauffer is a parent of a 7th grader and said he hadn't heard about the fight. "It's scary stuff," he said. "I'm curious about what the particulars are of it. What exactly happened."

Sharon Sierks' son is also in 7th grade and he had a class with the victim. He said rumors are swirling around school. His mom is worried. "It makes me nervous to think about what's going through the child's head that he would feel the need to hit another student."

Both Stauffer and Sierks said they're confident school officials will keep them in the loop and do the right thing.

I think it's a little early to expect them to like answer a lot of questions yet," said Stauffer. "I would hope they will be forth coming with that information."

"Usually they're good about letting me know that there's something that's going on that might be affecting my child," Sierks agreed.

Officials with FWCS said they are currently investigating the incident and declined to comment further.