Chicago police say they are considering hate crime charges against four people shown in a Facebook video attacking a mentally disabled man, cutting his scalp with a knife and punching him while yelling obscenities about Donald Trump and "white people."
The 18-year-old man, who had been reported missing by his parents earlier this week, is shown crouching in a corner on a video carried on Facebook Live. His wrists are bound and his mouth is taped shut.
As a woman shoots the video, two men cut the man's shirt with knives, then take turns punching him and stomping his head. One of the men cuts the victim’s hair and scalp with a knife, and it appears the man is bleeding.
As the man crouches against a wall, someone shouts, “F‑‑‑ Donald Trump” and “F‑‑‑ white people.”
The man was found wandering the streets in shorts Tuesday evening in the 3400 block of West Lexington Street in the Homan Square neighborhood, police said. Investigators believe he may have been attacked at a home about a block east from where he was found.
He had been reported missing Monday by his parents who said he disappeared after they dropped him off at a McDonald's in Streamwood on Saturday, according to police. The man apparently met someone he considered a friend, and then got involved with a group of people who stole a van from Streamwood.
Streamwood police said the parents began getting text messages from someone "claiming to be holding him captive." As Streamwood officers investigated the texts, they "discovered Facebook video depicting (the man) being verbally and physically abused."