Columbus mother seeks answers from district after daughter attacked on Columbus school bus

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — A Columbus mother is demanding answers from Columbus City Schools after her 11-year-old daughter was brutally attacked on the bus ride home from school.

“They shot her with a stun gun and then sprayed her with pepper spray,” Sophia Gill said. “A 17-year-old hit her, it bled and broke her lip.”

Gill said her daughter, a sixth-grader at Mifflin Middle School, was attacked around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday near the corner of Ontario and 21st Streets by a group of girls who were not allowed to board the bus.

“They walked right onto the bus and the bus driver didn’t try to stop them,” Gill said. “The bus driver didn’t try to stop it and that’s when it became a problem for me.”

Gill says the attack happened just days after an altercation between her daughter and another girl on the bus. Both girls were punished.

Gill is now waiting to hear details from Columbus City Schools to determine if this altercation is related to Tuesday’s attack and why the suspects were allowed to jump on the school bus.

“I haven’t spoken to the district, they haven’t gotten back to me,” Gill said.

Gill said after her daughter was attacked, she ran off the bus and called her relatives, asking them to meet her at the library branch in Linden.

Gill says the violence continued even after her daughter got off the bus while her niece was stabbed outside the library.

“She was brutally stabbed in the face,” said the 12-year-old’s mother. Her daughter needed 74 stitches and is currently recovering at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

“She was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time. She had nothing to do with it,” said the stabbing victim’s mother.

Members of the Gill family believe that the same girls responsible for the attack on the bus were also behind the violence at the library after they followed Gill’s daughter there after she got off the school bus.

Columbus police told ABC 6 News that the stabbing is currently under investigation by detectives.

In a statement to ABC 6, Columbus City Schools told us:

“The district is aware of the altercation that occurred on the bus between two Columbus City School students. We have no confirmation that weapons were involved. Disciplinary action has been taken against the individuals involved. For further information, I suggest contacting the Columbus Police Department.”

Gill says more needs to be done.

“I’m waiting for answers because this is something that keeps me awake at night,” Gill said, “because I know it’s not safe for my children to ride their own school bus.”