A black high school football player was attacked by a group of white students who tied a noose around his neck and “yanked backward” earlier this month.

The teen was “terrified” by the incident which took place at Stone County High School in Wiggins, Mississippi, according to the NAACP. The organization is now speaking out against the school whom it claims has taken no disciplinary action towards the students who orchestrated the attack. NAACP official Derrick Johnson is calling for a federal investigation into the incident. Johnson also claims that the victim’s mother was discouraged by law enforcement official Captain Ray Boggs when she attempted to press charges against his attackers. He warned the mother that it would not bode well for her son since one of the boys had a father who was once on the force. Sherriff Mike Farmer, a colleague of Boggs, denied the claim. “He just wanted her to be sure,” he said. Farmer claims Boggs didn’t want any false accusations to bring unnecessary attention and bullying to her son.

Boggs told the Associated Press that he’s been working hard to get to the bottom of the case. “There has not been a day since she came in here that I have not been gathering facts,” said Boggs, an African-American officer to AP. “It’s probably one of the hardest cases I’ll ever handle in my career, because of the nature of it.” Johnson wants to see the students charged as adults. “No child should be walking down the hall or in a locker room and be accosted with a noose around their neck,” said Johnson. “This is 2016, not 1916. This is America. This is a place where children should go to school and feel safe in their environment.”

Source: complex.com