Update 3: Jordan Hill, 18, of Carpentersville; Tesfaye Cooper, 18, of Chicago; Brittany Covington, 18, of Chicago; and Tanishia Covington, 24, of Chicago; were each charged with aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, aggravated unlawful restraint, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and residential burglary, according to the Cook County state’s attorney. Hill was also charged with robbery and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

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Update 2: Here is CNN’s Don Lemon explaining how this is not evil or racist…  “I don’t think it’s evil,” Lemon replied. “I don’t think it’s evil. I think these are young people and I think they have bad home training.”  

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Update 1: Police have charged the four suspects with battery and hate crimes (though we note no specific allegation of race-related hate)…

The video was initially posted via Facebook Live under the account of someone named Brittany Herring and spread quickly via Twitter and under the hashtag #BLMKidnapping.

BLM is an apparent reference to the social justice group Black Lives Matter, which did not appear to have any connection to the video.

 

Police Cmdr. Kevin Duffin said that the suspects made “stupid decisions.”

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As we detailed earlier, it appears Newt Gingrich was right in his outrage at the hypocrisy of the situation surrounding the kidnap and abuse of a mentally-ill white teen by four black assailants. Despite the suspects shouting “f*** Donald Trump” and “f*** white people” Chicago police said today that they do not believe the attack was motivated by race, more likely due to his “special needs.”

As KAKE.com reports, Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Thursday morning that they believe the victim was targeted because he has “special needs,” not because of his race.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said it’s also possible that the suspects were attempting to extort something from the victim’s family.

 

However, investigators are still considering whether the vile assault falls under hate crime laws and admitted there were “terrible racist statements” used.

Additionally, the grandmother of the young woman associated with the live video on Facebook of the beating says her granddaughter “had her ups and downs,” but is “a good person.” The grandmother says the video doesn’t reflect the young woman she raised.

Newt Gingrich was furious, warning that the U.S. was “at the edge of a terrible period” after a Facebook Live video surfaced in which a disabled Chicago teen is seen being tortured amid chants of “f— Donald Trump.”

“If this had been done to an African-American by four whites, every liberal in the country would be outraged and there would be no question that it is a hate crime,” Gingrich said in an interview on “Fox & Friends.”

 

“We are right at the edge of a terrible period — which I know President-elect Donald Trump wants to avoid — of having a deep bitter division in the communities in a way that makes America very hard to govern.”