Four suspects have been arrested after a Facebook Live broadcast appeared to show a man bound, gagged and brutally attacked amid shouts of ‘fuck Donald Trump’ and ‘fuck white people’.
The sickening footage, which was live-streamed on Facebook, showed several people in a room taunting, kicking, and assaulting the victim while he was sitting in the corner of a room, restrained and with his mouth taped closed.
At one point, the victim is held at knife point and told to curse President-elect Donald Trump. The group also forces him to drink water from a toilet before cutting his scalp.
Police superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters yesterday that the suspects would face ‘the full weight of the Chicago police department’.
He said:
Video of a brutal act towards an adult male with mental health challenges made its way onto social media. The images in the video put on display the brazenness of the offenders who assaulted the victim and then broadcast it for the entire world to see.
“The video is reprehensible,” said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
“It’s sickening. You know it makes you wonder what would make individuals treat somebody like that,” Police Supt. Eddie Johnson added.
Police say the victim had been reported missing, and spent at least 24 hours – possibly up to 48 hours – with the suspects, Fox32 reports.
The disturbing footage, which gained a wider audience when it was shared on YouTube yesterday, lasts around 30 minutes.
Police described the victim as an 18-year-old with special needs who was taken from the suburbs, CNN reports. He was found wandering the streets ‘in crisis’ Tuesday afternoon and was brought to a hospital.
The suspects, two men and two women, all 18 years old, are in custody awaiting formal charges.
