A Windsor mom says it's her worst nightmare come true after her son was brutally attacked over the weekend. She spoke to CTV Windsor on the condition of anonymity and says her son is on the autism spectrum.
According to a social media post and a Windsor Police Service Statement, he is 16-years-old. She says in an effort to promote independence, she taught him last summer how to ride the bus to get to school and back.
Around 7:45 p.m. Saturday night, she says he was hanging out with a friend at Devonshire Mall when they visited the McDonald's across the street and saw a group of kids they did not want to be around. She says that's when the pair decided it was time to go home.
She says her son's friend boarded a bus leaving him alone at the bus stop while he waited for his bus, but that's when a group of teenagers came up to him telling him to cooperate or else.
"So he went to run. This was out in front of the bus stop near the old Moxie's at Devonshire. So the initial kids came from the way of where the movie theatre is. When he went to run the opposite direction another group from McDonald's was coming towards him. So the two groups kind of banded together and just began attacking him."
She says her son sustained serious non-life-threatening injuries.
"Emotionally it's hard to tell. I think a lot of neurotypical people would be pretty traumatized by this and it would take a really long time to heal emotionally from something like this, but for someone who's neurodiverse, it's going to take a little bit longer I think. And I'm not really sure how we're going to approach that but we're going to get as much help as we can for him."
Images and video began circulating on social media shortly after the incident.
She believes the ages of those involved could range from 13 to 17.
According to a social media post, the group is said to have been as large as 20 kids.
She says the kids and parents need to understand the damage they've caused and the role they played..
"I would like them to able to be honest and take accountability, feel remorse and just reflect on what they did start making better choices going forward because there are consequences to every action and until they start making better choices and learning, once they can start to do that, they can start to grow."
Windsor police have confirmed to CTV Windsor they are investigating this incident.
-With files from CTV Windsor's Sanjay Maru