4 Arrests Made in Chicago Kidnapping Facebook Live Video

Arrests have been made in the Chicago kidnapping and torture of a man shown in a Facebook live stream video that went viral. The young woman identified as Brittany Herring who broadcast the beating and racial taunting of a special needs white man on Facebook Live has been arrested along with three others, Chicago police said Wednesday.

The victim’s parents reported their son missing Monday, after dropping him off Saturday at a McDonald’s in the Chicago suburb of Streamwood and not hearing back from him.
Police in Streamwood said that after the man was reported missing, his parents began getting text messages from someone “claiming to be holding him captive.”

The disturbing 30-minute video shows the 18-year-old special needs man tied up with his mouth covered, while his attackers laugh and shout “f*ck Donald Trump” and “f*ck white people” as they assault him. The video shows someone cutting into his scalp with a knife, leaving a visibly bald patch.

According to Cmdr. Kevin Duffin, the victim knew at least one of his accused attackers from school. He may have voluntarily gotten into a van with the group, police are considering kidnapping charges and because the victim is white and the people in the video are black, police also are investigating whether hate crime charges are appropriate, Duffin said.

A mug shot showing a crying Brittany Herring that made its way around the internet was said to be fake. The woman on the right is Brittany Shalynn Davis, as reported by ABC 13.

Another photo, from the Chicago Police website shows Brittany Covington with a bond date of October 5, 2016 with an arrest date of Tuesday, October 4, 2016. According to reports Herring is Covington and the $1,500 bond is related to a previous arrest for retail theft.

Facebook confirmed that it pulled the original video from the suspect’s Facebook profile.
“We do not allow people to celebrate or glorify crimes on Facebook and have removed the original video for this reason. In many instances, though, when people share this type of content, they are doing so to condemn violence or raise awareness about it. In that case, the video would be allowed.” The suspects, two men and two women, all 18, are in custody awaiting formal charges.

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