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       The brawl outside the Bethesda Metro station following a high school football game began after a teen with a BB gun was part of a group that attacked a student and stole his Adidas flip-flops, according to details from a bail review hearing for one of the youths arrested in the case.

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       Police on Friday announced that they charged five teens in connection with the melee that broke out after a Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Walter Johnson football game last week and went viral. Multiple students were injured, and a district spokesperson previously told The Washington Post that at least one student went to the hospital.

       A 16-year-old from Bethesda is being charged as an adult on counts including armed robbery and second-degree assault. Two teens, both 15, are charged with first-degree assault. Another 15-year-old and a 16-year-old have been charged with robbery and second-degree assault offenses.

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       Montgomery County District Judge Amy Bills, citing the age of the teen who just turned 16, released him from custody on a $10,000 bond Friday. She ordered that he live with his mother, who was in court Friday, and remain under 24-hour home arrest.

       Montgomery adds safety rules for school sporting events after football fight

       “I don’t think this has gone unnoticed,” Bills said of how videos of the incidents spread online and the case has been closely followed. “It’s been in the news. It’s been on social media.”

       Bills also provided details of the police accusations in the case.

       After the football game, a group of Bethesda-Chevy Chase students spotted a student from another school walking away from a Chipotle restaurant, Bills said.

       “He’s a Walter Johnson kid!” they yelled, according to Bills.

       The Bethesda-Chevy Chase students, including the 16-year-old, charged after the Walter Johnson student. The group told the student to empty his pockets, Bills said, adding that the 16-year-old then displayed what the Walter Johnson student “believed to be a handgun in his waistband.” Ultimately, Bills said, the student “was knocked to the ground, hit and kicked, and his Adidas flip-flops were stolen.”

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       Bills did not specify which students did the hitting and kicking. But she said the 16-year-old’s object in his waistband caught the crowd’s attention. “He’s got a gun! He’s got a gun! He’s got a gun!” people yelled out, according to Bills.

       The 16-year-old was ultimately identified and arrested. He told investigators the gun was an “airsoft gun,” according to Bills. In an interview after the teen’s bond review, his mother, Korta Johnson, expressed deep remorse — over what her son had allegedly done, how it might affect him and what impact the incident will have on the victim.

       “My child will be apologizing to him,” Johnson said.

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       (The Post generally does not name juveniles charged in crimes until they are in circuit court.)

       The object her son had was an air-pistol BB gun, fashioned to look like a genuine 9mm handgun, which he purchased without his mother’s knowledge, she said. Other classmates have purchased similar BB guns, she said.

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       “My son is a follower. He’s a good kid, but he’s a follower. He is socially awkward and was looking to get validation,” Johnson said, sighing deeply at how he apparently chose to do so. Johnson said she hoped her son’s case would be moved to the juvenile system, which is highly likely given his age. Johnson said that if accusations against her son are proven, and it comes to pass that a judge thinks he should be held in a juvenile detention facility for a few months, she’d accept that.

       “He needs to learn his lesson,” she said.

       Johnson, a commuter bus driver, said her son has long been diagnosed with a learning disorder and gets an IEP aide at school to help him. He can have trouble speaking — owing in part to a lack of confidence, Johnson said — and doesn’t always complete what he is trying to say.

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       In court on Friday, the teen addressed the judge politely. “Yes, ma’am,” he said to several questions. When Bills asked him if he wanted to say anything about his bond, he hesitated over several words before saying briefly: “Actually, I honestly don’t know. I really don’t know.”

       He is generally sweet and respectful, Johnson said, and has no criminal record or history of violence. Johnson said she formerly lived in the White Oak area of Montgomery County. She moved to Bethesda — and a high-rise apartment on Wisconsin Avenue — to get her children into better schools.

       “I tell him and his sister every single day to be respectful and to always the right thing — every single day,” she said.

       Some videos from the brawl are on social media. The Post hasn’t independently verified the authenticity of the footage, which appears to capture seconds of at-times brutal altercations. In three videos, students can be seen curled in fetal positions while they are being punched and kicked by other students. Police used video of the assault to help identify suspects with help from Montgomery County Public Schools officials.

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       In an interview Friday, Capt. Jordan Satinsky from the Montgomery County Police Department’s community engagement division said there will probably be more arrests from the spate of altercations. Police declined to answer questions about how many students have filed reports regarding the melee and what weapons were recovered. Satinsky said that depending on the student’s age, certain violent crimes are automatically charged as an adult under Maryland law.

       Chris Cram, a spokesperson for the school district, said disciplinary action has been taken at the school level but declined to share further details. Federal student privacy laws restrict school districts from disclosing specifics of student disciplinary action.

       However, there will be more stringent security measures taken at football games following the brawl. Backpacks will be banned, and students will be required to present their school IDs for admission. Students from a noncompeting school can’t enter a game without adult supervision. Varsity football games will also restrict admission to 75 percent of stadium capacity, and games could be shifted to daytime hours.

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