A Chicago couple was randomly beaten in the mob rioting that broke out in Chicago over the weekend, and video of the savage assault went viral on social media. On Tuesday, the pair told the story of their terrifying ordeal and how they thought they were going to die. First, here’s the footage of the attack.
WARNING: Graphic video
The couple, whose names are Ashley and DJ, told Fox News’ “America Reports” that they were just trying to get food when they found themselves in midst of the melee that overtook the Loop district of Chicago for several consecutive nights. Participants, appearing to be mostly young people, stomped on buses, smashed car windshields, trashed property, and attacked strangers. On Saturday night alone, two teens were shot and 15 people were arrested.
Someone in the crowd pushed Ashley, who said something to DJ. When he asked who did it, things quickly went south.
Watch:
“As soon as they pushed me, I told DJ,” Ashley recalled. “I said, ‘Hey…they just shoved me and he asked them. He was like, ‘Yo, don’t shove her. Who shoved her?’ and as soon as he said that, everything went crazy…They said, they were going to kill us.”
That’s when the beatdown occurred. It’s lucky these two weren’t severely injured because it appeared that they were both struck repeatedly—and hard.
“Everyone went for him and it ended up in the middle of the street,” Ashley said. “They were jumping him in the middle of the street. It got pretty bad.”
DJ says the attack was not targeted at him or Ashley:
“It was very random because all we were doing (is) we had just left Nordstrom and we were looking for somewhere to eat and we saw that group and they just thought they were tough and they wouldn’t move out the way, just out there being stupid, young and dumb, trying to prove a point for nothing,” DJ recalled. That’s how that happened.”
The mob proceeded to rob the couple of their shoes, phones, a pair of glasses, an Apple watch, and a hat. DJ suffered injuries to his face, shoulder, and back, and pointed to his black eye in the interview.
The police initially classified the beating as a robbery:
The story is made all the worse by the incredible response of Chicago’s new mayor-elect, Brandon Johnson, who appeared to sympathize with the rioters. He released a statement that included the sentence, “…it is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.” As RedState‘s Sister Toldjah wrote, “…on a news broadcast, Johnson again refused to condemn the rioters and looters even after being repeatedly asked if he condoned what they did. Instead, Johnson focused on how the perpetrators were allegedly ‘acting out of desperation’ and said that you have to ‘pay attention to the cries that people have.’”
This outlandish behavior should not be sympathized with or tolerated. It’s not about opportunity or privilege—it’s about total anarchy, and it was predictable. When you “defund the police,” lower crimes in some states from felonies to misdemeanors, and remove cash bail requirements, you turn the justice system into revolving doors of criminality.
And you get roaming gangs of youths randomly attacking innocent people on the streets of one of our formerly great cities. I’m just glad that Ashley and DJ are OK.
