LOS ANGELES, CA – A California teenager has died from injuries she reportedly received during a high school bathroom brawl, her mother stated. The turmoil, caught on camera, unfolded earlier this month at a Los Angeles area school, Manual Arts High School.
The victim, 16-year-old Shaylee Mejia, is alleged to have sustained a fatal brain hemorrhage linked to several fierce fights in her school. Her mother, Maria Juarez, reported that the fight took place on March 5. The teenager suffered a hard fall, hitting her head on a bathroom stall.
Mejia later complained about a headache but continued to attend school for several days. Following a party attended by Mejia four days after the incident, she fainted and was hurriedly taken to a hospital by a friend. Unfortunately, the teenager remained unconscious until her death on March 15.
Maria Juarez, a single mother of two, expressed her deep sorrow and shared that her daughter frequently came home with bruises following her enrollment at the public school eight months ago. Despite allegedly documenting Mejia’s injuries and reporting them to school officials and campus police, she claimed that her efforts were disregarded.
Juarez was unaware of the fight occurring on March 5 until after her daughter’s death. She held the school responsible for the tragedy, stating that she reported incident videos to the officials, yet the bullies were not penalized.
As part of the ongoing investigation into Mejia’s death, claims of her falling down a flight of stairs will also be examined. While the official cause of death has not been established, Manual Arts High School’s principal, Alejandro Macias, expressed his sorrow over the loss of a student and offered his condolences to the affected parties.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to assist Juarez, a housekeeper and the sole provider for her family, with her daughter’s funeral expenses.