Black-on-black girl crime

A high school talent show was abandoned after five black girls hit a rival in the face with a padlock hidden in a sock to stop her entering. "Yo, bitch, I got a lock," one of the black suspects, Aaliyah Smith, told Shacara McLaurin - who is also black - before the brutal attack in Brooklyn, New York. The attack left McLaurin, a gifted singer and pupil at Brooklyn Academy High School, unable to compete. Smith and her four co-accused pounced as McLaurin was leaving a house after a lesson with her vocal coach. The attack was swift and brutal. According to witnesses, one of the suspects started beating McLaurin with the makeshift cosh, before the others jumped in. McLaurin's friend, Skye West, tried to protect her but was also attacked, according to police. The savage assault left McLaurin with a severely bruised jaw a deep gash on her face. She needed six stitches near her left ear. Decory Fletcher, 16, Ashanti Garner, 17, Brittany Williams, 17, and Chazmia Morrison, 17, were arrested near the scene, shortly after the attack. Smith was arrested several days later. They have been charged with felony assault, menacing, weapons possession and harassment, but were released without bail.