NY - 11 high schoolers ordered to surrender after lacrosse team hazing in Syracuse. April 24, 2025

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The incident unfolded April 24 involving students at Westhill High School in Syracuse, Fitzpatrick said. Some lacrosse team students decided “they were going to haze or play some sort of prank” on younger members, he added.

There were at least five victims identified by the sheriff’s office.

One victim reported that he went to a lacrosse game and then McDonald's with upperclassmen. But the evening took a turn when he said he was taken to a remote wooded area in the county after the driver of the vehicle pretended to be lost.

“At some point by prearrangement, people came out of the woods all dressed in black. They were armed with what appeared to be at least one handgun and at least one knife,” Fitzpatrick said. “The individual had a pillowcase placed over his head, he was tied up and placed in the trunk of a car.”

The district attorney said he saw videotape of the incident.

“There was a period of time where he thought that he was going to be abandoned in the middle of nowhere,” Fitzpatrick added. "You can hear some individuals found it amusing.”

11 high schoolers ordered to surrender after lacrosse team hazing in upstate New York

The victim said he had a pillowcase placed over his head as he was tied up and placed in the trunk of a car.

www.nbcnews.com

 

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The number of suspects is “believed to be 11, but could be more,” Onondaga County First Chief Assistant District Attorney Joseph Coolican told CNN Wednesday.

“Most of them are minors … but there’s at least one who’s over the age of 18.”

Fitzpatrick made a public offer to the suspects on Tuesday: Turn yourself in to the sheriff’s department within 48 hours, and you can face a less serious misdemeanor charge of unlawful imprisonment.

“If you don’t — if you’re tougher than me, you’re a gambler and you’re going to play the odds, you don’t think you’re going to get caught — trust me, the men and women of the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department are going to identify you,” the district attorney said.

“You’ll be arrested, you’ll be prosecuted as an adult, and you’ll be charged with the very, very serious felony of kidnapping, perhaps in the second degree.”

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/30/us/syracuse-westhill-lacrosse-hazing-scandal/index.html