As various community and wellness leaders gathered at a circle of healing event in the Williamsbridge Oval park in Norwood on Tuesday evening, Aug. 12, as part of a preorganized effort to help local youth process their feelings following the fatal stabbing of 14-year-old Ángel Miguel Mendoza Hernández inside the packed park one week earlier on Aug. 5, the peaceful gathering was abruptly and seemingly deliberately and maliciously disrupted by a group of motorized bike riders.
As reported, some local young people had previously shared some of their thoughts with residents and with the Norwood News on the brutal gang assault, with one young person saying she believed the stabbing was pre-planned, and that in the weeks leading up to it, she had noticed a group of youths frequenting the park on bikes who she did not know.
On the evening of Aug. 12, at 7.30 p.m., the approximate time the 911 call had been placed one week prior, participants sat in a circle and answered questions like how they could look out for each other and what they needed to feel safe and supported in the park. The event organizer requested that we not show the participants’ faces and we are respecting that request.
About a half hour after the healing circle started, at around 8 p.m., a group of around ten motorized bike riders suddenly entered the park via the Bainbridge Avenue entrance. One after the other, with the engines revving, they drove right over to the entrance of the recreation center to where the healing circle was taking place in what looked like an attempted act of intimidation…