Middle Schooler Reported for Sharing Video of Himself Bullying Preschooler with Asian Slurs as the 5-Year-Old Begs ‘Don’t Hurt Me’

“I just don’t know why those kids are so cruel to say that to my son,” the child’s mother said after seeing the footage

Angel Saunders

A family is heartbroken after a video of their 5-year-old preschooler being bullied and called ethnic slurs by a middle school boy was shared throughout their Virginia community — an incident that has since been reported to law enforcement.

The mother and father, identified only as Ashley and Sean, spoke with local station WRC on Saturday, April 26, after a different parent learned of the clip and brought it to their attention.

WRC aired the footage but blurred the 5-year-old’s face.

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The older boy does not appear on camera in the video but the slurs he repeatedly says — which rhyme with “King Kong” — can be heard in an uncensored clip published by AsAm News with permission from Ashley and Sean.

The younger child is seen running away from the middle schooler, ringing the doorbell at his home and begging for help, according to the video.

“No! Don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me!” the 5-year-old says, holding out his hands and putting a jacket over his head for protection.

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He also asks nearby kids to “save” him as others laugh. 

The child who is recording asks the Asian boy if he is having “dumplings” for dinner and taunts him for acting like a “big guy.”

As the mother opens the front door, unaware of what just happened, and as her child runs inside, the middle schooler tells him, “Bye, have a good day.”

The video was shared in a chat group with students from nearby Eagle Ridge Middle School, according to WRC. A report has also been made with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

It was a parent within the community who found out about the footage and tracked down the victim’s family to tearfully let his parents know what happened. 

“Every time I saw that, my heart’s broken every time,” Ashley told WRC in an emotional sit down. “As a mother, to see my son insulted by other older kids, my son’s only 5 years old. I just don’t know why those kids are so cruel to say that to my son.”

Sean sat beside her, telling WRC that one of the jeers involved his son also being called “King Kong.”

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“Should I keep lying and say, ‘Yes. They’re calling you King Kong because you’re strong’? ” the father said, as his voice started to break, “Or should I try to explain to him what does that word and why they’re saying that to you? It’s hard.”

Ashley added that it was equally disturbing to see no other kids in the clip step up for her son, instead choosing to laugh at his cries for help.

“Nobody came to step out and to say, ‘Stop.’ Nobody think this is not right. They just laughing. Yeah, nobody stood up,” she said.

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Sean and Ashley moved to Loudoun County from China, picking the area for the neighborhood and schools, according to WRC.

“We thought that this would be a great place, however though, it ended up like this,” he said.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and Loudoun County Public Schools — which includes Eagle Ridge — did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

“The school division does not condone the behavior and is quite disappointed,” spokesman Dan Adams told WRC, referring to the 5-year-old. “Even though this child is not an LCPS student, we have offered this student counseling.”