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
good evening. it appears the militant group known as isis is about to face a big setback, losing control of tikrit just 90 miles north of baghdad. the battle raged for days between isis and iraqi forces. even some americans are on the ground including former military, trying to deliver a blow to the group which still controls huge parts of iraq and syria. nbc s bill nealy is in irbil tonight and starts us off. bill, good evening. reporter: good evening, carl. we ve witnessed the fight against isis firsthand today. we ve been with kurdish troops who are pushing isis back, and they re being helped by american volunteers. further signs who say iraqi militias who are taking on isis and iraqi government source told nbc news, isis is losing tikrit. isis is under heavy fire. rockets and mortars raining down on isis positions. these are iraqi militias, armed and backed by iran and spearheading the attack on tikrit. isis is dug into the city center and surrounded. the militias are a