10 Students Charged in Rich South High School Fight

Ten students were charged Tuesday after a fight broke out Monday afternoon at Rich South High School in south suburban Richton Park.

Three students were trampled, a staff member was hit in the face and a police officer hurt his knee after a fight broke out among students. It started when 1,400 students from Rich Central High School were taken to Rich South because of a bomb scare.

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“It was just like 200 people running at you at once, it was really crazy,” said a student who witnessed the fight.

Students call it crazy, but police call it a “major disturbance.” On Monday afternoon, a bomb threat that included a threatening note attached to a box with wires at Rich Central High School led administrators to put all 1,400 students on buses and move them to Rich South High School. When they arrived, someone pulled a fire alarm sending another 1,000 kids outside.

“They decided to get up and walk around the whole school and they were jumping on everyone’s cars,” said Laronica Wilborn, student, Rich South High School.

That’s when a fight broke out between students from the two schools.

“They wanted to fight a long time ago, they had the opportunity and they went for it and a lot of people got hurt,” said Wilborn.

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Dozens of police officers from surrounding suburbs and Cook County rushed to the school. Administrators say bringing students from two schools together on one campus was actually an evacuation plan they prepared with police over the summer.

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[Editor’s Note: The 90 percent of students at Rich South High School are black, compared to 95 percent of students at Rich Central High School.]