An Arizona teenager is facing an assault charge after authorities say he and two friends repeatedly pelted his ex-girlfriend with dodgeballs during a gym class, allegedly leaving the girl bruised.
Abel Schipper said he did not intend to injure the classmate when he and the other boys threw dodgeballs at her during warm-ups at Mayer High School, located about an hour from Phoenix, in December 2025.
“I didn’t think a dodgeball would hurt. And these are small ones too. So you can squeeze them and like they compress and stuff,” Schipper told AZ Family on Wednesday.
According to a social worker who contacted the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office days after the alleged incident, the boys “relentlessly assaulted her with dodgeballs when she came out of the bathroom.”
The girl was allegedly taken to a hospital with significant bruising to her upper right rib cage and lower right abdomen, according to a police report obtained by the outlet.
Schipper and the two other boys told investigators the class dodgeball warm-up had already started when they began throwing at the girl, insisting their actions were not meant to be malicious.
Schipper acknowledged to AZ Family that he threw a dodgeball at his ex-girlfriend and “hit her.” He said another boy missed, while a third student “also hit” her.
“Obviously I’m going to have to target somebody for dodgeball. It’s dodgeball,” the 13-year-old said. “You have to choose somebody, throw the ball, then try to get them out.”
The teen’s mother, Cecily Schipper, told AZ Family she had no idea police had interviewed her son at school over the incident — only finding out months later when a letter from the Yavapai County Juvenile Justice Center arrived informing her that Abel had been charged with misdemeanor assault.
“It is absolutely ridiculous. This is a game that every kid in the nation plays at some point in their life,” the mother told the outlet.
“They’re considering the dodgeball a weapon and that he knowingly or willingly, recklessly harmed this girl just playing dodgeball in PE.”
Cecily Schipper said she would understand her son would deserve “punishment” if the situation was “boys will be boys,” but thinks things have gone too far.
She then claimed that her son’s ex-girlfriend allegedly texted her “for rides home after this incident happened in December.”
“It’s just strange. And I was friends with her mom as well,” she said.
The case goes before a judge on Aug. 17.
In 2019, a 10-year-old Michigan boy faced charges of assault when he was accused of throwing a dodgeball at a student’s head, which injured the peer, during a schoolyard game.
The boy’s mother, Cameishi Triplett Lindley, said at the time that the ball thrown by her son resulted in a student suffering a concussion, according to a Facebook fundraiser at the time.
Her son was suspended from school and charged with assault, which were dropped after the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office reviewed the case, according to CBS.
