Alpharetta teen: Beating followed fake Snapchat meeting

Tyra Rankin (Credit: Channel 2 Action News)

Tyra Rankin (Credit: Channel 2 Action News)

An Alpharetta teenager says she was beaten by several people after she agreed to meet a friend through Snapchat, Channel 2 Action News reported.

The March 23 alleged attack near her apartment complex’s pool left 17-year-old Tyra Rankin with “bruises all over my body,” she said.

“Both of my eyes are fractured and so is my nose.”

She said it happened after someone she thought was a friend sent her a message on Snapchat asking to meet.

Rankin’s mother warned her not to go, but she went.

“I went to the left side and I looked and someone was standing there, somebody was crouched down,” she recalled to the news station.

“I tried to run, and at that point it was three people beating on me. Kicking me. Punching me.”

A neighbor called 911 after Rankin begged him for help.

Rankin thinks the attack may be related to an argument she had with a schoolmate the day before.

Police say they’re investigating that angle.

“We believe this was a setup,” Alpharetta police officer Jason Muenzer said.

“Bunch of punks,” Rankin said of her attackers, “that's what they are."

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