A high school dispute in New Jersey turned into something much more serious than a simple school yard fight, after police said that four adult men allegedly ganged up on a teen one day after school -- and one of the adults was said to be armed with a knife.
According to police, the Thursday afternoon brawl outside Sayreville High School was instigated by a student who called in his adult brother and three other men he knew to attack another student with whom he had been arguing.
Video showed the grown men attacking the teenager amid a crowd of other students yelling around them, after the quartet had been waiting outside. A student at the school told NBC New York she could see the victim trying to run away from the man who allegedly came with a knife.
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"No one really knew who he was, we just saw like a random guy on our school," said senior Paul Arias of the man with the knife.
Besides a knife, one of the four in the attack was found with metal knuckles in his possession.
The four suspects were quickly arrested by Sayreville Police, and between the ages of 19 and 29. Three of the arrested live in Staten Island, the fourth lives in Brooklyn, police said.
All four -- described as a "posse" by one official -- face various assault, conspiracy to assault and weapons charges in New Jersey.
Security was ratcheted up on Friday at the start and end of the school day for an incident still murky in its origins. Police have only said that some sort of altercation — not violent — between the two students during the school day lead to one of them calling in brother and friends to attack the other.
The good news: The victim of the attack was never cut by the knife and suffered just minor injuries. There was no word about any possible suspensions or punishments for the student who allegedly called for the violence, as school officials declined to comment.
