HAVERHILL, Mass. -- Officials arrested six members of an inner city gang for what is described as the savage beating of a 16-year-old high school student, Haverhill police said Thursday.

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NewsCenter 5's Jack Harper said that the beating, caught on videotape, has led to the arrest of the members of the gang called "Folk Killers."

Police said that another gang member taped the assault of the teen who wanted to get out of the group.

"This is a severe and savage beating and we got on it right away. These people, these children, are in custody and at tomorrow's dangerousness hearing it will be up to the juvenile court to see if they are released on bail," Haverhill Police Sgt. John Arahovites said.

"He was telling me blow by blow, 'That one really hurt. This one really hurt,'" officer Jack Moses said.

Moses said that the beating occurred in a wooded area in the Silver Hills section of town. A majority of the boys arrested are 16 years old and attended Haverhill High School, where police first got a tip.

"I think it's just a bunch of kids acting crazy," Joanne Christian, one suspect's foster mother, said. "(They were) trying to be macho men. I think it's part of their identity -- trying to become men. There are not enough men in the community who give them a positive role model."

"They were showing it around the hallway and in the classroom and the kids who saw it came to me and they were horrified by what they saw. It really bothered them," school resource officer Sean Scharneck said.

The victim suffered three broken ribs, cuts and bruises. He is working with police and is expected to be a witness in the case.