Police called the video a "brutal act" that was
"broadcast for the entire world to see"
Chicago police said Wednesday night that four teens are
being held and questioned in connection with a Facebook Live video showing a
group of people beating and cutting a teen who appeared bound and gagged as
they shouted “F--- Donald Trump.”
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson called the video a
"brutal act" that was "broadcast for the entire world to
see." He said the victim has "mental health challenges."
NBC News reported that officials said they expect to file
charges against the four 18-year-olds, two men and two women, within the next
24 hours.
Police said officers on patrol found a disoriented man
walking Tuesday afternoon in the 3400 block of West Lexington in the city's
Homan Square neighborhood. The man was transported to an area hospital for
treatment.
Then, just before 5:30 p.m., officers responded to a
battery at a residence in the 3300 block of West Lexington, where they
discovered signs of a struggle and damage to the property -- a scene they
linked to the disoriented man.
Officers later became aware of social media video
depicting “a battery of an adult male which is believed to be the same
individual,” police said in a statement Wednesday.
Authorities said the video, which shows a group of black
men and women kicking, cutting and slapping a white man, who at one point
appears to be bound and gagged, is credible. The video was posted around 2 p.m.
Tuesday and had been seen more than 62,000 times before it was removed from
Facebook.
In the footage, some in the group can be heard saying
"F--- Donald Trump" and "F--- white people."
The victim is an 18-year-old man from northwest suburban
Crystal Lake who had been reported missing and "has mental health
challenges," police said. His parents reported him missing late Monday,
telling police they had not heard from him since Dec. 31, when they dropped him
off at a McDonald's at Schaumburg and Barrington Roads, according to a release
from Streamwood police.
His parents began receiving text messages from persons
claiming to be holding him captive, authorities said, and officials discovered
the Facebook video while investigating the source of the messages.
Police said the teen was "extremely
traumatized" but has been released from the hospital.
Authorities believe he knew one of the suspects and had
gone with that person willingly before he was eventually brought to the city in
a stolen van and held against his will.
He had been with the suspects for at least 24 hours,
authorities said.
"It's sickening," Johnson said. "It makes
you wonder what would make individuals treat someone like that."
Police are investigating whether the attack was a hate
crime, though they have not yet said that it is one. Commander Kevin Duffin
told reporters that it may have been people "ranting about something they
think might make a headline."
When asked if the attack was politically motivated,
Johnson said "at this point we don't have anything concrete to point in
that direction."
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A READER’S
COMMENT ON THE ABOVE ARTICLE POSTED ON THE INTERNET:
This is all the fault of the liberal leftists who
continue to put out the agenda that Trump is a hater, a racist, and someone we
need to be afraid of. They beat that idea into weak minded people’s heads until
those weak minded people believe it and seem to think they are justified in
doing something like this. This is a hate crime, not only against this young
man, but also against the millions and millions of people who support and voted
for Trump. Those Dems/liberals/leftists need to stop spreading the hatred they
accuse Trump of spreading. They are the real haters, and they have been showing
that throughout the country every day in many ways.
