US girl dies after being hit on head with metal water bottle, classmate arrested

A 12-year-old has been arrested in connection with the death of a classmate who was hit in the head with a metal water bottle during an alleged bullying incident at a Los Angeles school, authorities said Friday.

The juvenile, whose age and gender have not been made public, was arrested on suspicion of murder on Thursday, Los Angeles Police Officer Charles Miller said. The arrest stems from the February 25 death of 12-year-old Khimberly Zavaleta Chuquipa.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, which will be responsible for filing charges, did not immediately comment.

Miller said that he could not release any other information because both the victim and the suspect are juveniles. Khimberly’s family says she was struck in the head on February 17 during a bullying incident at Reseda Charter High School, which also includes a middle school.

“This arrest is an important step toward accountability, but an arrest alone does not equal justice and does not answer the larger question of how this was allowed to happen in the first place,” Robert Glassman, the family’s lawyer, said in an email on Friday.

Khimberly was in a hallway on the school’s campus when she was struck in the head with a metal water bottle while trying to help her older sister, Sharon Zavaleta, who was being bullied by a group of students, the family said in the wrongful-death claim filed last month against the Los Angeles Unified School District.