Teen attacked by classmates near Upper Marlboro high school park

A 15-year-old Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School student was beaten in a park near campus in Upper Marlboro, leaving her with multiple contusions, torn hair and other visible injuries after several classmates surrounded her, the girl and her family said. The assault happened Monday, April 20, 2026, and the 10th-grader said her nails were pulled out and her hair extensions were ripped out during the attack.

Her mother said the violence did not come out of nowhere. The family said the girl had already faced threats and a prior history of aggression, and that authorities had been told before the attack. That timeline now sits at the center of the case, raising the question of what was known, when it was known and what response followed once the warnings were raised.

Prince George’s County police are handling the investigation in a county of nearly 900,000 residents. The department, the fourth-largest law-enforcement agency in Maryland, has become a focal point for parents and school communities as violent incidents and school-related threats have kept safety concerns high across the school system.

Those concerns were back in the open at an emergency state-of-the-schools town hall Tuesday night, where County Council and school board members addressed community worries about violent incidents at county schools over the past eight months. County police said they investigated 47 school-related threats in the 2024-25 school year and charged 10 students, ages 13 to 16, in connection with threats.

Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School is located at 12650 Brooke Lane in Upper Marlboro, and the attack has sharpened attention on the space just beyond the school doors, where students walk, wait and gather in areas the campus itself does not control. For Upper Marlboro families, the case is a stark reminder that campus safety promises mean little if warning signs in nearby parks and routes are not met with a faster response.