murder led to the arrest of seven Abington teenagers, aged 16 to 18, with six of them charged with murder, and the seventh for supplying the bats used in the crime. All of them were found to have some school disciplinary records., in some instances for violent behavior, and one had been expelled for bringing a gun into school. Several of them were on probation for various offenses. Four of them were students at Abington High School, another had graduated from there, and two attended other schools. The investigation also revealed that many other youths from Abington had been involved as well. But those others were never charged. The reason why, it was argued, they had to be ruled out to keep the case manageable, given the extraordinary extent of it. As one Philadelphia police officer put it, when youths from Abington were brought into Philadelphia's police headquarters for purposes of establishing witnesses they all acted like suspects. All the females were described as being defiantly untruthful while all the males showed no signs of sympathy towards the victim. When the news emerged that teenagers from Abington were behind it, Abington declared the week "Nonviolent Conflict Resolution Week", while fellow students at Abington High School were reported to be in shock, having a great deal of difficulty comprehending how this crime could have originated from what they had perceived to be an idyllic suburbia totally free of such type behavior. The mother of one of the perpetrators, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "These are suburban kids – you don't figure them to go bad. It's not their character to be a rough group of kids." Nonetheless, the news media attacks on Abington's newly acquired bad image continued, with the Daily News in its front-page headline calling Abington High School "MURDER HIGH" alongside a graphic of the school's crest, with a subhead reading: "They're suspects in Fox Chase beating – and they're walking the halls in Abington." This particular report drew strong criticism from Eddie Polec's younger brother, who in a local TV news spot insisted it totally mischaracterized Abington kids as he knew them to be. For despite the crime and a strong desire among many to seek revenge, all the members of the Polec family showed extraordinary restraint. This especially came to light when they appeared on local television pleading for calm and to allow the courts to