SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Deputies have charged six teenagers in connection with the gang initiation and beating of a 15-year-old boy on Monday.

Investigators said they were called to a home on Broadway Street in Glendale at about 6 p.m.

Deputies said that when they arrived the boy's mother said her son was assaulted by members of a gang called "Rolling 60s." She said that her son was being forced to join the gang and was being "jumped in." They said that this process involves physically assaulting a prospective gang member as part of an initiation.

Investigators said that after the teens beat the boy they threatened him and the lives of his family members if he refused orders from the gang.

The boy's mother took him to an area hospital where he was treated for bruises to his chest.

Michael Johnson, 18, Justin Thigpen, 17, and Elizabeth Weather, 17, all of Spartanburg, were charged with second-degree lynching. Johnson and Thigpen were also charged with soliciting and recruiting for a gang. Weathers was also charged with criminal conspiracy.

Deputies said that three other minors were each charged with second-degree lynching and soliciting and recruiting for a gang. Their names were not released because of their ages.

Johnson, Thigpen and Weathers were released from jail on bond.