Police have arrested four teenagers in connection with a string of alleged “knockout game” attacks in Brooklyn, the NYPD said, according to DNA Info. A 14-year-old girl and three other children, aged 10 and 11, were arrested in connection with three assaults that took place between October and November.

According to the NYPD, one of the victims included an 11-year-old boy who was punched on President Street, a youth who was hit with a rock while walking home from school and a youngster who was “mushed” in the face with a plastic bag, Deputy Inspector George Fitzgibbon, the 71st Precinct’s new commanding officer said.

Their names are being withheld by police because of their ages, DNA Info reports.

Police said they made the arrests after zeroing in on the neighborhood’s middle-schoolers.

“The knockouts that we were experiencing seemed a lot towards youngsters,” Fitzgibbon said. “My school team did a lot of work uncovering information, and the Hate Crimes team did a lot of good work following up on that information.”

“When people saw we were able to actually solve one of these incidents, word gets around to the local schools and to the kids that might be involved or haven’t been caught,” he added.

It was not immediately clear if the three incidents were part of the so-called “knockout game” attacks, targeting mostly Jews.

The youths were arrested between Nov. 13 and Nov. 23 and were charged with assault, endangerment and criminal mischief, Fitzgibbon said. “Kids are kids — when you’re talking 10 and 11 year olds getting involved in these type of things, sometimes they don’t realize the magnitude of what they’re doing,” he said in their defense.

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)