A family is heartbroken after a video of their 5-year-old son being bullied and called ethnic slurs by an older, middle school kid was shared throughout their Virginia community.
The mother and father, identified only as Ashely and Shawn, spoke with NBC News4 Saturday, April 26 after a different parent learned of the video and brought it to their attention.
In the footage, the 5-year-old’s face was blurred from the newscast and the older child did not appear on-camera.
The ethic slurs repeatedly said by the older kid, which rhymes with King Kong and can be heard in the uncensored clip published by AsAm News, were also censored by NBC News4. The younger child was seen running away from the middle schooler, ringing the doorbell at his home and begging for help.
“No! Don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me!” the 5-year-old said, holding out his hands and putting a jacket over his head for protection.
He also asked nearby kids to “save” him as the others laughed.
The child who was recording asked the Asian boy if he was having “dumplings” for dinner.
As the mother opened the front door, unaware of what had just happened and her child ran inside, the middle schooler told him, “Bye, have a good day.”
The video was shared in a chat group with students from nearby Eagle Ridge Middle School.
It was a parent within that community who found out about the footage and tracked down the victim’s family to tearfully let his parents know what happened.
“Every time I saw that, my heart’s broken every time,” Ashley told the news station in the emotional sit down. “As a mother, to see my son insulted by other older kids, my son’s only 5 years old. I just don’t know why those kids are so cruel to say that to my son.”
Shawn sat beside her, telling NBC News4 that one of the taunts involved his son being called “King Kong.”
“Should I keep lying and say, ‘Yes. They’re calling you King Kong because you’re strong,’” the father said, as his voice started to break, “Or should I try to explain to him what does that word and why they’re saying that to you? It’s hard.”
Ashley added that it was equally disturbing to see no one step up for her son, instead choosing to laugh at his cries for help.
“Nobody came to step out and to say, ‘Stop.’ Nobody think this is not right. They just laughing. Yeah, nobody stood up.”
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Shawn and Ashley moved to Loudoun County from China, picking the area for the neighborhood and schools.
“We thought that this would be a great place, however though, it ended up like this,” he said.
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and Loudoun County Public Schools did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“The school division does not condone the behavior and is quite disappointed. Even though this child,” spokesman Dan Adams told News4, referring to the 5-year-old, “is not an LCPS student, we have offered this student counseling.”
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