In Chicago, seven teens have been charged in the brutal alley attack of a 17-year-old high school student that was caught on video and uploaded to YouTube this week, sending the internet into a one hell of a fury: 7 teens charged in beating posted on YouTube.Soon after the video hit the web, savvy netizens widely posted the identities of the alleged attackers. There was speculation -- bolstered by this remarkably stupid video -- that the beating was actually retaliation for an incident last month involving the victim and his friends: Dad of one of teens charged in YouTube beating says attack was a 'retaliation'.
17-year-old Raymond Palomino, the attacker whose face you can clearly see in the video, is being charged as an adult, and faces felony charges of robbery and aggravated battery. The rest of the attackers, ages 15 to 16, including the 15-year-old girl who apparently made the recording, have all been cited on the same charges:
Seven teens were charged early Wednesday in the attack and robbery of a teenager that was caught on tape and posted on YouTube.This whole thing has been sickening. I don't care if this attack happened because of some guy who got jumped by twenty guys and another guy who did something to another guy or this and that. And that makes this justified? The cycle of violence has got to stop. Yeah, it's easy for me to type away on a keyboard and preach that. But f@#k it. The cycle of violence has got to stop.
Six boys and a 15-year-old girl are accused of participating in the beating and robbery of a 17-year-old male at about 4 p.m. Sunday in an alley behind an elementary school just south of the city's downtown.
Raymond Palomino, 17, was the only person in the group charged as an adult, with robbery and aggravated battery.
The other six -- two 16-year-old boys, three 15-year-old boys and the15-year-old girl -- were charged as juveniles, also with one count of robbery and one count of aggravated battery. Their names were not released.
Authorities have deduced that the attack wasn't racially motivated. I could tell you it breaks my heart to learn that some of the attackers were actually Asian kids too. Because it does. But it's certainly no surprise. It's a violent reminder of the inter-generational conflicts that have long existed within our own communities, between Asian American kids and more recent immigrants -- the so-called FOBs.
It sounds crazy, but can I be so bold to suggest that even though both the perpetrators and the victim are Asian, you could still make the case that the attack was still indeed racially motivated? More here: Chicago Teen Beating: 7 Charged In Brutal Attack Caught On Video.