A shocking video recently went viral that showed members of an Atlanta street gang filmed beating a man because he was wearing skinny jeans.
Surveillance video from the JVC Grocery, located in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of SE Atlanta, shows a young man (dressed in all black) walking into a store while looking down at his cell.? As he comes out of the store, several men ambushed and brutally attacked him without cause.
In the video, the men are clearly yelling “No F*ggots in Jack City” as they assault the innocent teen.
[Sidebar: I totally blame Marko Marlo Hampton for her casual use of that same “F” word on national television. But I digress…]
The victim, who has not been disclosed, has reportedly not stopped crying since the beating and family members say he was too afraid to report the crime to the police.
It was the attention from the disturbing viral video that got investigators interested in finding the perpetrators of this senseless crime.
Details + the disturbing video footage below…
One of the men tape the video and uploaded it to worldstarhiphop.? You can clearly hear the men yelling derogatory terms about the teen’s sexual orientation.
Witnesses say there were at least eight men in the streets looking out for police. Two of them have their video cameras rolling as the men punch, kick and brutally batter the innocent victim.?One of the men even runs up and slams a tire on the teens head.
Atlanta’s Pittsburgh neighborhood, located just east of Downtown Atlanta near McDaniel Street, is home to members of the Pittsburgh Jack City Gang (or “PBJC”).? The group also uses the name “Jack City 1029.”
?As seen above, the video opens with an unseen cameraman and a second man outside the grocery store. The second man announces, “Round one. Jack City. No ******s.”
Then, after a diminutive man exits the grocery, an assailant approaches him from behind and delivers a brutal punch to the side of the victim’s head. The man’s cell phone flies from his hand and he crumples to the ground.
The victim is then set upon by three men who punch and stomp him while he tries to cover his head. One of the attackers–who is wearing a shirt with “Jack Gang” imprinted on the back–even strikes the victim in the head with a tire.
As the man is beaten, the giggling cameraman announces, four times, “No ******s in Jack City.” An onlooker can be heard saying, “No ******, man.” The video ends after one assailant picks up the victim’s cell phone and then punches the man in the head while holding the device.
According to WSB-TV, federal investigators have been brought in to determine if the incident classifies as a hate crime.
U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates issued a statement on the matter, which reads:
Combating violent gang activity in our District, including the Pittsburgh community, is a priority of this office, as are any potential civil rights violations based on a person’s sexual orientation.
Along with the Atlanta Police Department, we are working to determine if the actions portrayed in the video violate federal law, including the hate crime statute.
The actions depicted in the video are appalling and unacceptable in our community, and we encourage anyone with information about this video to contact the FBI or Atlanta Police.
Let’s pray these fools are quickly found and put UNDER the jail.
**Update** The man in the orange shirt was seen in the surveillance video helping the young man from the scene.? According to Fox5 Atlanta, the victim has now been identified as 20 year old Brandon White.
White plans to make a statement about the attack tomorrow during a press conference. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has also announced a $5,000 reward for information on the men in the video.
?What we’re going to do is work with the FBI until we find every single person that was involved in this horrible incident and bring them to justice,? said Reed.
?I want to be extremely clear, I’m not going to tolerate this.?
FBI agents joined Atlanta police at the store where the incident occurred on McDaniel Street Tuesday to process the scene and interview neighbors. They fingerprinted several items on the scene and took into evidence a tire that may have been the one in the video.
Stay tuned. This ain’t over.
