They have initiated a fundraiser to aid her legal defense.
The family told the Daily Mail that Gain had allegedly been "harassing and bullying" their daughter, which they believe triggered the violent incident. The video, which was posted online in early March, shows the two girls engaged in a fight in the middle of a street. After Gain is knocked to the ground, the 15-year-old continues to assault her, repeatedly striking her head against the concrete.
March 22, 2024
Despite the surge of online support for Gain, the aunt of the 15-year-old told the Daily Mail that her niece, an honor roll student at Hazelwood East High School, was merely "defending herself" from Gain. The family has launched a petition on Change.org, appealing to the St. Louis Juvenile Court to consider "Restorative Justice and Rehabilitation methods" rather than "punitive measures." They have also requested donations for her legal defense.
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The petition describes the 15-year-old as a multilingual honor student who speaks four languages, including Spanish and Korean, plays the violin in the school orchestra, and was a member of her school's volleyball team. She was recently selected for college-level AP classes due to her academic excellence. The petition insists that before the March 8 incident, where she was seen defending herself from harassment and bullying, she had never been in trouble.
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However, a GoFundMe page set up by the family on March 16 was removed after raising nearly $3,000. The family had claimed they were being targeted with "racist death threats." A spokesperson for GoFundMe told the Daily Mail that the fundraiser violated their terms of service, which explicitly prohibit fundraising for the legal defense of an alleged violent crime. All donors have since been refunded.
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The family's Change.org petition remains active and has garnered over 630 signatures out of a 1,000 signature goal. The family maintains that the focus should be on "healing and reconciliation" for both parties.
Meanwhile, Gain's family confirmed that she suffered a "fractured skull that resulted in brain bleeding and swelling" from the incident and has been unconscious for 10 days. They have reportedly raised over $300,000 for her medical expenses. A statement from Gain's family through their lawyer emphasized their plea to other parents in the community.
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"Although the family would like justice to eventually be served through the legal system, their focus at this time is dedicated exclusively to Kaylee's recovery," Gain's lawyer told the Daily Mail. "Kaylee's parents want to make a special request to their fellow parents in the community to ask them to reinforce to their children that physical violence and bullying are never appropriate, and to emphasize to their children that lives of both the perpetrators of teen violence and the victims of violence can be permanently and forever changed as a result of violent incidents that last only a few minutes."
The family also stressed that they do not want any retaliation against anyone directly or indirectly involved in the incident.
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