By now, most everyone has probably heard about the fight that occurred at Madill High School. The incident has been discussed on multiple news outlets and various Marshall County Facebook groups. For the ones with no idea what this is referring to, there was a fight that ensued in the boys’ bathroom at Madill High School on January 14.
The video shows a sophomore and a freshman fighting. Up to this point, there has not been much information to go on; mainly speculation. Some say it was a bullying issue where the larger student was bullying the smaller, other say the smaller kid started the fight.
The Madill Record was able to get in touch with one of the student’s parents – the father of the student wearing the backpack.
According to the smaller student’s dad, there is a small amount of truth to all of it. Richard, who prefers to keep his last name anonymous, said events that happened the night before were precursors to the fight in the bathroom.
“On Monday night [January 13], my youngest nephew, who is in middle school, called and asked if we could pick him up from home and stay with us,” he said.
They picked up the nephew while the nephew’s older brother and two friends were at a basketball game. According to Richard, the older brother was not happy with the fact that they picked up the younger brother and had his friends bring him to Richard’s house. This is when things got ugly, Richard said.
“They parked the truck on the road by our mailbox and the older brother walked up to the house, entered, and started cussing and running his mouth.”
Richard said his dad was at home, and recently had a stroke making it difficult to get around well, but was very adamant about the one causing the ruckus needing to leave the house. The older nephew refused, stating that “no one was big enough to make him.”
Richard said after that statement, his brother held the nephew on the ground till the younger one gave up and agreed to leave the house. Apparently, once the nephew left the house and was in proximity of his friends, he became brave again.
“On his way out the door and all the way down the driveway to where the other two boys were parked, he was yelling back that they had a loaded pistol in the truck they were in and going to get an AR15 that supposedly one of the other boys had at their house, and come back and take everyone in my parents’ house out,” said Richard.
Richard’s brother called the Sheriff’s Office and reported the incident. In the 911 call, the brother can be heard telling dispatch that the three juveniles were threatening to come back with guns and “take everybody out.”
Richard said the incident did not end after the 911 call. After the three boys left his house, they began texting his freshman son, threatening to jump him and the younger nephew at school the next day. According to Richard, the older nephew told his friends that Richard’s son and brother both jumped him inside the home. This is when things started progressing to the violent incident, Richard said.
“My son had nothing to do “My son had nothing to do with any of it till they started texting him with the threats. So, the other two boys decided they were going to get involved on a family matter that had nothing to do with them, just because they were friends with the older brother.”
Richard said he taught his son to never back down, especially from bullies, so he agreed to fight if need be. The fight occurred in the boys’ bathroom after first period. Three students recorded it and it went viral on Snapchat. A few people who had seen the video informed Richard about the fight.
He said he called the school trying to find out what happened, and was informed by somebody at the school that the school had no knowledge of such a fight. However, he received a call later in the day, informing him that his son was suspended for the rest of the school year because this was his third fight.
Richard said that even after all of that happened, it still was not the end. “Around 5 that evening, the bigger boy in the video started texting my son, saying he wanted a do over and accusing him of being a snitch. So, once again, my son text back, not backing down from him.”
Even though his son has been in three fights, Richard said his son is not the aggressor, merely standing up to bullies.
“He has been in three [fights] that were from the boys bullying him and some even smaller kids, but since he didn’t back down and agreed to fight, he was suspended every time.”
Richard also noted that his son is doing what he was raised to do, and that is not to back down from bullies. “He knows that if he is doing what I taught him, I’m gonna have his back just as much as he knows he will be disciplined if I find out otherwise. After those other fights, other students backed him and let me know who all were being bullied.”
The Madill father said that the fighting incident is not the only thing bothering him, it is the way events were handled. He noted that when his brother called the Sheriff’s Office to report the nephew’s claims about coming back with weapons, there was no follow up.
“The deputy that was called the night before, never came to the house asking questions or to take statements. According to the news, he went to the house we thought they were going to and didn’t see them and considered it case closed.”
Richard said he thought the deputy should have taken statements from everybody involved, actively looked for the truck and followed up with the information.
“Because of the lack of effort, the other kids’ parents didn’t even know anything about what happened Monday night, except my sister,” Richard said.
Madill Superintendent Larry Case said safety of the students is the number one priority, and they are investigating the incident.
Though it seemed like nobody else was taking this incident serious, there actually was one more interested in making things right.
“When I spoke with the bigger student’s father in the video, he didn’t know anything about what the boys did the night before and said he would handle it from there.”