12-Year-Old Dies from Brain Injury in School Incident

A 12-year-old girl died last week after suffering a brain hemorrhage linked to an injury she sustained while defending her sister from bullies at Reseda Charter High School in Los Angeles, prompting a homicide investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Khimberly Zavaleta was struck in the head with a metal water bottle thrown by another 12-year-old student in a school hallway on February 17, according to her family. The incident occurred as Khimberly intervened to protect her younger sister during an altercation involving several students. She was taken to an emergency room for treatment that day and released. Eight days later, on February 25, she collapsed at home and was rushed to UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital, where doctors diagnosed a ruptured major blood vessel in her brain. Placed in an induced coma, she underwent emergency surgery but succumbed to heart failure at 3:30 a.m.

The Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division, Valley Bureau Section, is treating the case as a homicide but has withheld further details because it involves juveniles. Officials have not publicly confirmed a direct link between the water bottle strike and the fatal...