*Four suspects have been charged in Chicago in connection with the gruesome beating and torture of a white man that was streamed on Facebook Live.
Jordan Hill, 18; Tesfaye Cooper; 18; Brittany Covington, 18; and Tanishia Covington, 24, have each been charged with hate crime, felony aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to CNN.
Hill, Cooper and Brittany Covington also face charges of residential burglary. Hill also faces charges of possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
The suspects are due in court on Friday.
In the video, the young victim – an 18-year-old with special needs – is repeatedly kicked and punched while bound and gagged in the corner of a room. One assailant slashes his sweatshirt with a knife. One of the men shouts: “*F*ck Donald Trump! F*ck white people!” An attacker then carves a patch off the victim’s scalp with a knife.
The video sparked debate on social media as to whether the assault was in fact a hate crime. Was the victim targeted because he was white? Because he had special needs? Or for another reason?
A certain faction of social media immediately blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for the attack. The hashtag #BLMKidnapping even began trending on Twitter.
The perpetrators made a wide array of statements in the video, including repeated references to Trump, white people in general, the victim’s appearance and Black Lives Matter. But on Thursday, police said they have not been able to make any connection to the activist group.
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