Norman Conway said his daughter watched as the 14-year-old boy was led away by deputies Tuesday. At first, everyone thought it was something to do with middle school high jinks on the last day of school. Then word of the alleged murder plot began to spread.
Conway said that during an eighth-grade physical education class, his daughter heard two students chatting about the attack. "She said that the kids in front of [her] were talking and said that 'Well, we don't know if she's going to call the cops on us or not.' The other kid said, 'She said I tried to kill her.' "
April Lewis, 41, dropping off her son, lamented the challenge of raising rebellious teenagers, at a time in their life when the pressures of drugs and sex suddenly confront them.
"It's a really difficult age," Lewis said. "They're trying to figure out who they are, and there's all that peer pressure. It's tough."
At her home later in the day, Aquirre's plight was about to get tougher. She glanced at the anguished Mother's Day card once again. Then she climbed into her pickup truck and hit the road for Los Angeles to hire a lawyer for her little girl.
phil.willon@latimes.com
