Kashala Francis has been identified as the 13-year-old Texas girl who tragically passed away just days after she was attacked by three middle schoolers.
According to reports, Francis was brutally beaten by three girls in an unprovoked attack while she was on her way home from school on Thursday, April 24. Reports indicate she was punched and kicked, specifically in the head, several times during the attack.
While Francis initially claimed to be fine after the fight, she eventually fell unconscious and into a coma on Sunday, April 21. After she was taken to a nearby hospital, doctors found fluid buildup and a tumor in her brain.
In the early hours of Wednesday, April 24, Francis was officially pronounced dead at Texas Children’s Hospital.
Kashala’s mother Mamie Jackson said her daughter was complaining that her head hurt before falling unconscious.
“I drove over and I told her get up. I said ‘Get up, Kashala.’ She kept saying, ‘Mama, my head hurt,’ so she laid down,” Jackson said in an interview with KTRK.
At the time of this writing, doctors say it is too early to determine if the fight contributed to the teenager’s death, as the brain tumor was unknown to the family prior to her falling unconscious on April 21.
A Facebook donation page has since been set up to help the members of Kashala Francis’s family pay for her medical and funeral expenses.
In a statement, the Houston Independent School District said that the district is currently cooperating with the police investigation into the fight.
“The district is aware that several Attucks Middle School students were involved in an off-campus altercation on Thursday. HISD is gathering information and cooperating with the Houston Police Department in its investigation,” the school district’s official statement read.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends, family, and various loved ones of Kashala Francis during this extremely difficult time.
