Brittany Herring is an 18-year-old girl who posted a Facebook Live video showing a man with special needs being tortured in an apartment on the 3400 block of West Lexington in Chicago. Herring is currently in police custody with three friends, according to authorities. The victim was kidnapped for up to 48 hours before being found in a state of shock, walking around the neighborhood.
Herring, whose real last name is Covington, streamed the video via Facebook Live on Tuesday while she and the other three assailants taunted and beat the victim. The other three suspects, two unidentified males and a female, are also in custody. They are all only 18 years old.
The victim, also 18, was last seen by his parents on New Year’s Eve. According to ABC 7 Chicago, they received texts from their son while he was with the suspects. The victim was hospitalized after the assault but is currently in stable condition. According to the investigation, the victim knew one of the subjects from high school.
Chicago Police described the events that led up to the abduction during a press conference.
Via WBBM:
While on patrol Officers observed a disoriented male walking 3400 W. Lexington on January 3, 2017 who was then transported to an area hospital for treatment. At 5:26 p.m. officers then responded to a battery at a residence on the 3300 block of W. Lexington where they discovered signs of a struggle and damage to the property and (were) able to link this evidence to the disoriented male. Officers later became aware of a social media video depicting a batter of an adult male which is believed to be the same individual. At this point CPD believes the video is credible and detectives are questioning persons of interest in the case. The victim, whom CPD believes is from a neighboring suburb, was transported to an area hospital in stable condition. The investigation is ongoing.
Furthermore, Detective Kevin Duffin of the CPD said the victim is “an acquaintance” of one of the suspects., Duffin says the victim and the suspects “met in the suburbs, the subjects then stole a van out in the suburbs and drove him into Chicago.” Duffin said the victim is “traumatized by the incident,” making it difficult for detectives to communicate.
According to the CPD, the victim and the suspects are still being interviewed, but charges are expected to be filed by Thursday. Furthermore, police are still investigating whether this is a result of stupidity or a hate crime.
“Kids make stupid mistakes, I shouldn’t call them kids, they are legally adults, but they are young adults and the make stupid decisions,” Duffin said.
“That certainly will be part of whether or not we seek a hate crime, determine whether or not this is sincere or stupid ranting and raving.”
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson echoed a similar sentiment during the press conference:
“I think part of it is just stupidity,” Johnson said. “People ranting about something they think might make a headline. At this point we don’t have anything concrete to point (toward a hate crime) but we’ll keep investigating and let the facts guide us on how this concludes.”
A lot of people are took issue with the law enforcement referring to this crime as stupidity before it was officially deemed a hate crime. Twitter users suggest that had the race roles been reversed, it would unquestionably be considered a hate crime. This has caused the hashtag #BLMkidnapping to trend on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/ramzpaul/status/817006363851235328
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW-qhAAhMyY
Who Is Brittany Herring/Covington?
Brittany Herring, real name Brittany Covington, is an 18-year-old woman from Chicago who has been arrested for kidnapping someone and torturing him on Facebook Live.
What Happened?
Herring and three other unidentified suspects, two males and one female, kidnapped a man with special needs on the 3400 block of West Lexington in Chicago. They tied him up, taunted him, beat him, and forced him to drink out of a toilet.
*Update*: The investigation has been concluded, the the four suspects have been charged with hate crimes.
https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/817108125719363585
#BLMkidnapping
https://twitter.com/ramzpaul/status/817006363851235328
https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/816986791647608832
https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/816972102603575296
https://twitter.com/JxhnBinder/status/816823355999453186
