Philadelphia

Middle School Bullying May Have Led to Shooting at Pottstown Home, School Officials Say

School district officials say there is evidence that the shooting and recent bullying accusations are related

What to Know

  • A Pottstown home was peppered with up to 15 bullets as a family finished up dinner on Sunday night.
  • The homeowner believes the shooting is tied to recent bullying her 13-year-old daughter has endured at school.
  • District officials say there may be a link between the bullying claims and the shooting. Police are investigating.

Prolonged bullying of an eighth grade girl by several classmates may have led to a shooting at the middle schooler's Pottstown, Pennsylvania, home, a school district official confirms.

The 13-year-old girl had just finished dinner with her family on Sunday evening when up to 15 bullets peppered their home along the 500 block of West Street.

Bullets careened through windows and walls sending the family running for cover. Luckily, no one was hit.

"As soon as my niece and kids came in here, bullets started flying," Marie Samba, the girl's mother, said.

Samba believes her daughter was targeted. The girl has been bullied by a group of girls at school since the family moved to the Montgomery County town from Philadelphia.

"My 13-year-old has a hit on her, from a bully? What possesses a grown person to take a 13 year old’s word to shoot up a house full of people?"

Samba said a school employee told her to transfer the girl to another school district based on her past experiences with the teens. "My son's teacher told him the same thing," Samba said.

Samba has since removed her children from Pottstown schools as a precaution.

Pottstown police chief Mick Markovich said his officers are investigating and that witnesses are cooperating. He did not provide information about who may have fired the shots.

John Armato, spokesman for the Pottstown School District, tells NBC10 that based on information from police and the district's investigation there is reason to believe that the shooting is related to bullying accusations levied by Samba's daughter.

He confirmed that the fighting between Samba's daughter and the girls has been ongoing for several months.

Armato said schools host classes and discussions related to bullying, but that parents need to further the discussions.

"They are not issues that can be singularly addressed by the schools, they are community-wide issues," Armato said. 

Uniformed police were asked to be present at the school on Monday as the probe continues, Armato said. Other additional safety precautions were also put in place. A notice was also sent to middle school parents.

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