No criminal charges will be filed in the death of Jada West, a 12-year-old Douglas County student who died after a fight with another student in March, District Attorney Dalia Racine announced Monday, Oct. 12. Racine said investigators reviewed video, interviewed witnesses and considered the findings of an autopsy by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The autopsy found that West had a genetic heart condition that caused her death. Racine said the stress of the fight could have triggered the condition, but it also could have been triggered without the fight. West, a sixth grader at Mason Creek Middle School, fought with another student, identified by authorities as J.S., in a neighborhood near the school. The girls’ dispute began on their school bus while it was stopped at a railroad crossing, Racine said. J.S. had asked students to quiet down so the driver could listen for an approaching train, she said. The argument continued after the students left the bus, and the girls fought. West became unresponsive afterward and was taken to a hospital, where she died three days later. Racine said J.S. called her mother, a registered nurse, who tried to save West after finding no pulse. The mother did not know at the time that her daughter had been in a fight with West. Investigators could not establish who began the fight. Racine said they found no evidence that West had been bullied by J.S., and that the girls had few prior interactions, no earlier altercations and no ongoing conflict. “Jada West was a 12-year-old child whose life was tragically cut short,” Racine said in a statement, offering condolences to West’s family and the community. She said the decision against charges reflected the “totality of the evidence.” Racine also said J.S.’s family and others connected to the case received death threats, prompting J.S.’s family to move away. She urged the public to distinguish verified information from speculation and to treat everyone affected with care.