MIDDLETOWN, Ohio – Victims are blaming a group of male teens for a series of attacks here.
At least four people say they've been assaulted in the South Central neighborhood while walking home from a park or school. Some of those attacks happened in the area of Baltimore and Garfield avenues.
J.J. Willoughby, 14, said he was playing basketball with a friend at Oakland Park last week.
"He got jumped by, we think, the same people - by about seven males – and they hit him in the head with a rock," Willoughby said.
He says "the same people" because Willoughby himself was jumped last Monday night walking home from a friend's house.
"I had my headphones on and I couldn't hear anything," he said. "I was walking on Garfield and I got kicked in the knee. I fell on my back and I covered my face (with his arms) and they stomped on my knee.
"I went to the doctors the next day and they thought I tore my meniscus, so I got an MRI. But it turns out it's just a bruise."
Willoughby says he has talked to high school officials and they know what's going on. He hopes the police can stop it from happening again.
"If they do catch them, I hope they do the right thing and put them away and keep other people safe in Middletown," Willoughby said.
There was another case where an older man was attacked. If you have information that could help police, call Crime Stoppers at (513) 352-3040.
