By Ronald E. Carrington and Jeremy M. Lazarus

Shocked, appalled, horrified, disgusted.

Take your pick of the responses to a graphic video showing white football players at Short Pump Middle School simulating the homosexual rape of at least two black teammates in the locker room amid the gleeful shout of one perpetrator that “we’re gonna to f* the black outta these African-American children from Uganda.”

Apparently filmed by the perpetrators and posted to the social media site Snapchat on Friday, Oct. 13, the vile video became a must-see news story last week that has brought unwanted nationwide attention to Henrico County and tarnished the school’s reputation as a welcoming place for all students.

And it has left adults in this increasingly diverse suburban county reeling from a naked display of bigotry out of the Ku Klux Klan playbook at a school that largely serves the children of people living in the most prosperous section of the country.

The video went public last week after the Free Press deadline.

In recent months, increasing numbers of racially charged incidents have been reported in majority-white schools in the Richmond area and across the country, but this one took the cake for the most degrading to those who were the subject of the intimidation and abuse.

In Henrico, parents are furious that the school system learned about the video on Oct. 16, but did not issue any statement until after WWBT-Channel 12 broke the story on Oct. 18.

On Wednesday night, as the Henrico School Board held a community session to allow parents and residents to air their views, Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon L. Taylor issued a statement suggesting that further punishment could be in store.

She stated that a criminal investigation is underway and that “if laws have been broken, then my office will respond appropriately.”

The Henrico Police Department separately confirmed the probe. “We are working hand in hand with our commonwealth’s attorney’s office, and we are currently conducting interviews and speaking to folks. Right now, it is just an ongoing investigation. Nothing has been completed at this time,” said Lt. Col. Clarence Hunter, assistant Henrico police chief.

At this point, the school system’s main public response since learning of the video has been to cancel the team’s final three football games and to require players to attend practices that include workshops on racial tolerance and ethics.

Behind the scenes, according to Michelle F. “Micky” Ogburn, the School Board representative for the Three Chopt District that includes the middle school, other action has taken place. While she told a radio interviewer that student privacy laws prevent her from divulging whether any of the perpetrators have been suspended or expelled, she said, “Henrico Public Schools has a strict code of conduct, and that code was applied immediately.”

Still, many are left to wonder why the youths had no adult supervision in the locker room and why the usual work of coaches to instill camaraderie and the ethos of teamwork failed so miserably.

Others are dismayed that so many students are prepared to brazenly display a sexual knowledge that is supposed to be beyond their years.

The community meeting Wednesday went on after the Free Press deadline.

The purpose: “To get some direction for the best path forward,” Andy Jenks, Henrico Public Schools’ spokesman, said before the meeting.

“We want to tell our community face to face what took place and the immediate actions the school division took, then open up the audience dialogue to share their thoughts, opinions and ideas for moving forward. We are not trying to dictate the path but to find out where the community would like to take us,” Mr. Jenks said.

Adults might never have known about the video but for two students who brought the disturbing video to the attention of the school’s administration.

Frank J. Thornton, president of the Henrico Branch NAACP and son of Henrico’s Fairfield District Supervisor Frank J. Thornton, still has questions that he and his members want answered.

For example, he said the branch wants to know how long it took for parents to be notified after the video came to the school’s attention. He also wants to know whether the school has provided crisis counseling to the victims and whether the perpetrators have been referred to appropriate mental health services.

“This incident happened on the Oct. 13 and today is Oct. 24,” Mr. Thornton told the Free Press on Tuesday. “This is plenty of time for the school psychologists, social workers, guidance counselors in the building to meet with the victims and perpetrators.”

He said that has not happened, and he expressed dismay at the poor response.

Mr. Jenks denied that the school system has ignored the need for counseling.

“The psychologist and preventative services specialist have been at the school to observe the school climate and work with the football team to provide support in racial sensitivity and cultural awareness,” said Mr. Jenks.

However, Mr. Thornton said he knows better because the branch is “working directly with one of the families of the students impacted to assist them in dealing with this traumatic event through our network of professionals.”

In his view, the school system should have made trauma counseling a top priority because of the potential for the abused students to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.