like i said, as a parent, you want to protect your child and i felt like i wasn t there. so it looked awful. reporter: vanessa says she believes the attack on her son was carried out by students from a rival high school, students who were retaliating after a recent fight at potomac mills mall that drew police. vanessa says her son was not involved in that incident but saturday one oe attackers asked him earlier in the evening if he played basketball for freedom high school. he answered yes. and vanessa thinks he was targeted because of that. i m a forgiving person, but this has to stop. it has to stop. and you can t go around randomly picking kids just because. reporter: now, vanessa hopes by calling attention to the attack someone might come forward and name names. now, the victim stayed home from school today. his mom wanted t talk to school administratorbee returned. on news 4 6:0 i ll tell you about his plans going forward. reporting live from dale city, julie carey