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From Bridget Johnson, for About.com

Photographer Attacked at High School

Friday April 25, 2008
As most journalists must at some point or another in their careers, I covered the schools beat for a short time. This mainly consisted of sitting through arduous school-board meetings, watching excruciating school talent shows to write an 8-inch story, or taking large group pictures of students of the month and attempting to get all the names right. Nothing like this:

    "A (Baltimore) Examiner photographer, on assignment for a school-violence special report, told police a student assaulted her Thursday morning outside Reginald F. Lewis High School, the same school where art teacher Jolita Berry was viciously attacked by a student earlier this month.

    Arianne Starnes, 24, said she was thrown to the ground after a student came out of a group of about 20 other students and accused her of taking his picture.

    ...The student allegedly grabbed Starnes’ cameras, tugging at the straps and threatening her. After a struggle, Starnes was pushed backward to the ground. She fell on her cameras and immediately stood up but was again confronted by the student, who this time pointed his finger at her head and pretended to shoot her, saying 'I told you not to take a f------ picture.'

    Starnes, who repeatedly told the student she did not take his photo, said there were no teachers or school supervisors present, but several students had posed for pictures and had given their names prior to the incident.

    'The whole thing was unsettling,' Starnes said. 'They were laughing and joking. No one was trying to stop it.'

    After the attack, the student removed a blue bandana from his head and entered the school."

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