CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — A local mother has been arrested after being accused of attacking two students from Cunningham Middle School at South Park.
According to a police report, on Thursday, April 11, 40-year-old Paula Vela drove her juvenile daughter to Cunningham at South Park Middle School at 2901 McArdle Road to fight a 13-year-old girl. The incident took place at Botsford Park adjacent to the campus.
According to video obtained by the Corpus Christi Independent School District's Police Department, Vela is seen yelling and cussing at the 13-year-old girl. In the video, she says, "I saw the messages on her phone. You are going to stop messaging my daughter. Do you hear me? Because I should let her beat your (expletive, expletive)."
Then, she asks the girl, as she's backing away, why she is scared. In another video obtained by CCISD police, Vela is seen ordering the other juveniles to move back and put their phones away. Just as the fight begins, Vela is seen pushing the 13-year-old girl off her daughter, which allows her to get the upper hand.
Vela's daughter then got on top of the other girl and continued to punch the 13-year-old in the face and head. In the video, Vela is seen grabbing a 14-year-old girl by the neck and hair and throwing her to the ground.
Shortly after the fight ended, Vela's daughter went live on social media and told her followers that her mother grabbed one of the girls by the neck and threw her to the ground.
As for the victims, the 13-year-old girl told investigators her head hurt, and the 14-year-old said her neck and head were hurting. Their parents told police they wanted to pursue criminal charges against Vela.
On Monday morning, CCISD police tracked Vela to her home and took her into custody. Vela was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of injury to a child, and child endangerment.
According to the report, the child endangerment charge stems from Vela driving her daughter, who is under 15 years of age, to fight another child, placing her in imminent danger of bodily injury.
Her bond was set at $75,000. As of Tuesday afternoon, Vela was still in the Nueces County Jail.
KRIS 6 reached out to CCISD Police Chief Kirby Warnke who said this is an ongoing investigation and investigators are using videos of the live streams of the fight as evidence in this case.
When asked about the district's plan for Vela, he stated as part of Vela's bond conditions, she has been ordered to stay away from all CCISD properties.
"We will do anything we can, in the confines of the law, to ensure the safety of our kids," Warnke said.
