Eight boys charged in Aug. 18 beating of 14-year-old boy at Gage Park

The vicious daylight beating of a 14-year-old boy in Gage Park was sparked by an interaction on social media, police say.

Media officer Const. Lorraine Edwards said Monday an “exchange of online comments” is believed to have led to the attack on Aug. 18.

The victim’s mother says her son was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” referring to his inadvertent digital presence in the offending Snapchat conversation months ago. “He told me these kids were after him, and I didn’t take it seriously,” Stacey Worth said Monday.

But Worth says she’s pleased Hamilton police have now nabbed more boys accused of assaulting her son. “I’m actually extremely happy.”

Police announced Monday they’d concluded their investigation, charging eight in total with assault after making two initial arrests last week.

The boys range in age from 13 to 16, Edwards said.

All are scheduled to appear in court Sept. 21. As minors, their identities are shielded by the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

A video of the attack, which occurred during A Midsummer’s Dream colour festival, was shared widely on social media.

It shows a group of attackers descending on the 14-year-old victim, repeatedly punching and kicking him. He suffered minor injuries. Worth said her son suffered a concussion in the beating but is doing well now.

Despite the arrests, Worth said she remains uneasy about potential retaliation.

There were at least 100 crowding around her son that day in the park, she said. “I’ve seen the group with my own eyes.”

Worth has expressed concern a shooting early last Thursday at the northeast Hamilton townhouse complex where she lives may have been meant as a message to her family. Nobody was injured in the gunfire near the parking lot at 44 Martha St.

Police have said there’s no evidence linking the shooting and the assault in the park.