BILLINGS — An 11-year-old Billings girl was lured to Optimist Park on the city's south side and beaten in a violent attack that was recorded and posted to social media, sparking outrage in the community.
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Ana Gernant said she was tricked into thinking the girls wanted to record a TikTok dance video.
The attack happened Sunday night during a baseball game, just beyond the outfield fence.
Ana was punched and kicked dozens of times over the course of more than 2 minutes.
At one point, other kids at the scene yelled for the assault to stop, but the attacker continued.
Ana said the fight started over a rumor.
"They thought that I was talking crap and said that one of the girls should kill herself," Gernant said. "I would never, I am not like that at all."
Ana said she knew only one of the girls when she arrived at the park Sunday.
She took several beatings that day.
Ana's mother, Brittany Edlund, said she had previously removed Ana from school to get her away from the girls involved.
"I removed her and I moved her schools," Edlund said. "Just to get away from all that because I knew it was going to happen."
Edlund gave permission to use photos showing Ana's injuries, taken at the hospital.
"That's my baby for sure," said. "So this is very hard."
Brittany and Ana spoke with Billings police investigators Wednesday afternoon.
Billings Police Sergeant Jeff Stovall said everyone involved, including those who recorded the video, could face criminal charges.
"All involved, even those taking the video, can be charged with a crime," Stovall said. "There's a situation where they could have intervened. They can be criminally charged as well, something that a lot of our youth don't understand because we're raised and now in this environment where phones are so prevalent you can absolutely be charged as an accomplice to a crime."
Stovall said much of this behavior is driven by the pursuit of social media attention.
"We live in this generation of where everything needs to be on social media, everything needs to be videoed," Stovall said.
Ana said she has thought about the lessons from the incident.
"Trust your gut and don't trust people that you've gotten into multiple fights with," Ana said.
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