A swarm of bees stung 32 students near a high school in Montgomery County, Maryland, Thursday morning, sending three students to a hospital, officials say.
The bees were agitated after a student kicked their hive, other students said.
Student Joey Brown said he was forced to run from the bees.
"I saw a lot of bees, and they started chasing me. I had to run, and they couldn't catch me, but I had a couple friends that got hurt," he told News4.
BEE ATTACK: This is the swarm of bees that attacked 32 Quince Orchard HS students @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/0RpG5lMgxA
— Aimee Cho (@AimeeCho4) October 12, 2017
Firefighters were called to Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg just after 8 a.m.
Dozens of students had been stung at a shopping center across the street from the school. The bee hive was located in a bush there.
"They told me someone kicked it, and I'm like, 'Why would you kick a beehive? That's just so dumb,'" student Joshua Jung said.
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The kicker apparently claimed self-defense. He said a bee had gotten onto his leg, so he tried to shake it off, and that's when he hit the bush.
Three students were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. They are expected to be OK. The others were evaluated on the scene, out of an abundance of caution.
A property manager at the shopping center sprayed the bush with bug spray, killing many of the bees.
Students said from now on, they'll walk another way.
