A Chicago couple spoke out Tuesday after being surrounded and attacked by a swarm of young people during an eruption of violent rioting and looting downtown.
A large group of teenagers confronted Ashley Knutson and DJ Garrison-Johnson on Saturday in a video widely shared across the internet. The recording, which has been viewed over 15 million times on Twitter, shows teenagers beating the couple to the ground while shouting profanities and dragging them into the street.
The couple said they were in downtown Chicago to shop and eat food. While walking through the crowd, a teenager reportedly shoved Knutson, causing Garrison-Johnson to instruct them to stop. Violence immediately ensued, according to their account.
White young woman and Black boyfriend who were randomly attacked in downtown Chicago speak out.
The attack was unprovoked!👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/9f6OIL6URf— 🇺🇸 TheRealBroChris (@TheRealBroChris) April 18, 2023
“We were in downtown Chicago trying to shop, trying to get some food, and were walking down the street and there was a really big group of guys, a really big group of people, guys and girls. DJ had my hand trying to lead me through the crowd of people and they pushed him, they pushed me, and as soon as they pushed me I told DJ, ‘They just shoved me.’ And he was like, ‘Don’t shove her, who shoved her?’ And as soon as he said that, everything went crazy,” Knutson told Fox News.
“They said they were going to kill us. They turned around and started fighting. I got pushed down to the ground and the whole group went to DJ and not to me. I have a whole lot less injuries than he does because I was more of a bystander than anything. But everyone went for him and ended up in the middle of the street. They were jumping him in the middle of the street. It got pretty bad,” Knutson added.
Garrison-Johnson claimed that the assault gave him multiple injuries including a black eye, sore back, and possibly dislocated shoulder.
A swarm of hundreds of teens made national headlines after flooding downtown Chicago’s swanky Magnificent Mile neighborhood Saturday. The swarm of teens broke car windows, attacked bystanders and terrified tourists after firing guns. The violence prompted the city to deploy SWAT downtown.