HOUSTON – An 18-year-old Wisdom High School student has been arrested and charged for an alleged brutal beating of one of his classmates.
Jeffson Ventura-Rodriguez was arrested Monday and charged with assault enhanced by hate crime for an incident that occurred on Nov. 10, less than two miles from the school campus.
“The complainant was attacked from behind at first … punched in the head, neck, and face … and then later hit in the head with a laptop and kicked in the ribs,” a Harris County magistrate judge said during Ventura-Rodriguez’s first court appearance.
The beating happened after they all got off a bus in the 6200 block of Gulfton Street.
Five suspects allegedly assaulted the Afghani student, who eventually scared them off after he picked up a large stone.
“This allegedly arose out of some ongoing conflict between Latino and Afghani students that’s been going on since October,” the magistrate judge said.
Wisdom High School’s slogan is “where the world comes to learn,” according to the school website.
“The safety and well-being of our students is our top priority. Due to the Family Education Right’s Privacy Act (FERPA), HISD will not be providing additional information at this time,” a spokesperson for the district wrote in an email to KPRC 2.
Parents were not notified about the incident, the spokesperson said, because it didn’t happen on school property, and that decision is usually up to the campus principal.
“It worries me because I was very happy bringing my child here, but now I’m not so sure. When you go to work, you need your kids to be at a safe place,” said Sonia Espinosa, whose daughter attends Wisdom High School.
Her daughter has told her about some of the racial tensions at the school.
“It doesn’t really matter what it is. It’s part of their culture and they have to respect it. Period,” Espinosa said.
Ventura-Rodriguez is being held on a $5,000 bond. If he bonds out, he’s been ordered to have no contact with the victim and to remain enrolled in and continue attending school.
Court records show Ventura-Rodriguez was charged with solicitation of prostitution last year, but the case was dismissed in September after he completed a course and donated to the Houston Area Women’s Center.
An attorney listed in court records as his representation for the assault case hasn’t responded to KPRC 2′s request for comment.