Late last night, Chicago police detained four individuals relating to the torture of a mentally disabled man, an act of violence that was broadcast across the internet.
Today, the internet is responding with kindness.
A GoFundMe campaign started by redditor razorsheldon on the r/UpliftingNews community aims to raise $5,000 for the victim, an 18-year-old from a suburb of Chicago.
“For those of you who have seen the recent horrific [Facebook] live video of the young special needs victim tied up,”razorsheldon wrote, “your immediate reaction is complete disgust and your second reaction is to want to help this young man.”
Help the community has. Six hours into the GoFundMe, over 130 people have donated nearly $2,200.
“It feels good to know there are that many people out there willing to make the effort and financial sacrifice to support this young man in his time of need,” razorsheldon told the Daily DotT.
He said when he saw the video, he was instantly reminded of another horrific crime.
“The horrific video and the viral responses online immediately reminded me of the Karen Klein bullied bus monitor situation [which raised over a half million dollars] and when I didn’t see any apparent fundraisers for the victim, I thought there should be one and created it,” razorsheldon said.
The identity of the victim has not been released, but Chicago police said he was treated at a local hospital and is now resting with his parents.
On Thursday afternoon, Chicago police charged four individuals with a hate crime because the victim has disabilities. Tanishia Covington, 24, Tesfaye Cooper, 18, Brittany Covington, 18, and Jordan Hill, 18, also face kidnapping and other charges related to the attack.
In the video, where the victim is attacked with a knife and forced to drink from a toilet, the alleged perpetrators can be heard spewing anti-Donald Trump profanity as well vitriol toward “white people.”
But razorsheldon hopes that in spite of the hate, the victim will still see the good in people.
“I hope [he] feels the support of all of the donations and the supportive comments so [he] know people are out there caring about him while he and his family go through what will probably be a difficult recovery process.”
Update 4:32pm CT, Jan. 5: Chicago police have filed hate-crime charges against four suspects.
