A local cheerleader dropped out of Westview High School because she and her family fear for her life.
Katie Uffens doesn't look like a typical bully victim, but her tears say otherwise. The cheerleader at Westview High School said she'll never forget the Friday in February when it all started.
"Some friends came up to me at lunch and said there was a group called the KKK and it stood for the ‘Kill Katie Klub,’” she said.
Her mother Giselle Uffens couldn't believe it, so she went to the school and to the parents of the suspected ring leaders.
“I asked him straight up can your son really hurt my daughter, do you think it's a joke and he paused and he hesitated and it scared me,” said Giselle.
Westview administrators did a thorough investigation, according to the Poway Unified associate superintendent, but found no cause for action.
But in the meantime the Uffens family contacted San Diego Police. The case is open and under investigation, and a copy of the report shows one student admitting he wished someone would kill Katie.
"They’re making threats! They’re saying they want to kill people and the adults aren't reacting,” said Giselle.
She said the gravity of the situation hit home in July with the Colorado movie theater massacre - the suspected shooter, James Holmes, is a graduate of the same school her daughter attended.
“So when I realized that James [Holmes] lived down the street and I thought well no better place to raise him here in this community, everybody dismisses everything as drama, nobody cares,” she said.
Today Katie is enrolled in a homeschooled charter program - but life at Westview is anything but a distant memory. Copies of online posts and pictures are the latest attacks now targeting her family as well.
"I hate that it's like they keep going after me and they just don't let it go and now they're starting to go after my family and it's hurting us all a lot,” Katie said.
Katie is no longer a student at Westview, and officials there finished their investigation when the incident occurred. Since then, Giselle has filed a claim and lawsuit against one of the students stemming from the latest alleged online harassment.
