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Student Injured In Fight With Possible Gang Ties

By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: March 6, 2009

Updated: 03/06/2009 03:32 pm

BROOKSVILLE - An apparent gang-related fight at Central High School left a student badly beaten on Thursday.

The confrontation began when the suspect, Russell Laux, 18, approached the victim and told him not to cross the crack line in the sidewalk. Laux referred to the victim's online MySpace page, which contains a picture of the victim wearing a black bandana.

The suspect, a student at the school, told the victim he was not a true "Blood" and that he was. The Bloods, and their rivals the Crips, are notorious West Coast gangs.

The victim answered Laux's challenge by crossing the sidewalk crack, prompting the suspect to push him back. When the victim crossed the crack a second time, the suspect grabbed him and threw him to the pavement, an arrest affidavit states.

As the victim lay on the ground, Laux kneed him in the face and head several times. He then took the victim's head and repeatedly hit it against a brick wall, according to an arrest affidavit.

When the school resource officer arrived, the victim was lying motionless on the sidewalk outside the media center. The deputy said he was able to answer questions and identify his attacker.

She also noted in her report there was a small amount of blood on the brick wall.

Laux was arrested on charges of aggravated battery and disrupting a school function.

Sgt. Donna Black, sheriff's spokeswoman, said witnesses are alleging that the fight was gang related, but detectives are still determining whether that's true.

"Those were the preliminary facts that we gathered as to why the fight happened," she said.

Black wouldn't go into detail about the victim's injuries for privacy reasons, but stated that they were not "life threatening."

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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