**UPDATE**
The family of a 12-year-old Virginia girl who accused three classmates of pinning her down and cutting her dreads in a racist attack is apologizing after the girl admitted to making the entire thing up.
Amari Allen, student at Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, made national headlines with the shocking claims last week, alleging that the boys, who are white, cut her hair and called her names.
“To those young boys and their parents, we sincerely apologize for the pain and anxiety these allegations have caused,” the student’s grandparents, who are her guardians, said in a statement sent obtained by The Washington Post by the school. “To the administrators and families of Immanuel Christian School, we are sorry for the damage this incident has done to trust within the school family and the undue scorn it has brought to the school.”
“We understand there will be consequences, and we’re prepared to take responsibility for them,” it continued. “We know that it will take time to heal, and we hope and pray that the boys, their families, the school and the broader community will be able to forgive us in time.”
**ORIGINAL STORY**
A 12-year-old Virginia girl said she’s never felt more traumatized than after three of her classmates allegedly pinned her down and cut her dreads, all while calling her hair “ugly” and “nappy.”
Amari Allen said the incident unfolded Monday during recess at Immanuel Christian School, a private evangelical Christian school in Springfield.
Amari Allen, 12, said the boys who cut her dreads have been bullying her since the start of the school year. (Photo: WUSA9 / video screenshot)
“They kept laughing and calling me names,” Allen told WUSA 9 through tears. “They called me ‘ugly,’ [and] said, ‘I shouldn’t have been born.’ They called me ‘an attention-seeker.’ “
The straight-A student said she was preparing to go down a slide at the playground when the trio of boys, who she said are white, attacked her. Allen claims one of them grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth while another boy held her down. That’s when third boy took a pair of scissors to her hair, cutting off portions of her medium-length locs.
The assailants reportedly scattered when the school bell rang.
“They ran off laughing, and I was just sitting there,” she recalled.
Afraid, Allen initially didn’t tell anyone about the assault. She finally broke down to her family Wednesday after her grandmother was doing her hair and noticed a stark difference in the length.
“It’s very painful,” grandmother Cynthia Allen said. “I want to see them (the boys) dismissed from the school. I want to see something done.”
It’s unclear where teachers where at the time of the harrowing incident, which Amari said lasted for nearly five minutes.
School officials addressed the incident in a statement this week, calling the allegations “deeply disturbing.”
“We take seriously the emotional and physical well-being of all of our students, and have a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of bullying or abuse,” said Head of School Stephen Danish. “We’re deeply disturbed by the allegations being made, and are in communication with the family of the alleged victim to gather information and provide whatever support we can.”
Danish said they’ve asked police to investigate the incident.
For Allen, this isn’t the first time she’s had trouble with the accused boys. She said she’s been the target of their incessant bullying since the start of the school year, describing how they boys took her lunch and teased her.
When the girl’s family went to officials with the latest allegations, they said the Christian school “asked them not to post about incident on social media and asked them to pray about this so it can be handled the ‘Godly way,” FOX 5 D.C. reported.
The private school, where tuition is nearly $12,000 per year, is a staunch Christian institution that explicitly bars employees from participating in “homosexual and lesbian sexual” activity, according to NBC News. Karen Pence, the wife of Vice President Mike Pence, teaches part-time at the school.
Immanuel Christian School didn’t return requests for comment.
Watch more in the video below.
