Chicago police have charged four suspects with hate crimes and battery in an attack on a disabled man that was posted live to social media, according to the Associated Press.
The four suspects had their first court appearance on Friday, where a judge denied them bond.
Brittany Covington, 18; Tesfaye Cooper, 18; Tanishia Covington, 24, all from Chicago, and Jordan Hill, 18, from Carpentersville, Illinois, were identified as the suspects. They were charged with two hate crimes -- one because the victim has a disability and one because he is white, and are accused of battery and kidnapping, The AP reported.
The Facebook Live video, which has been removed, appeared to show a man being tied up and tortured by several people. The Associated Press reported that the suspects allegedly forced the victim to drink toilet water, gagged him with a sock and covered his mouth with tape and bound his hands with a belt.
BuzzFeed News reported that the video was shot by a black woman who turns the camera toward herself and other people throughout, although it shows a white man who has his mouth covered with duct tape and restrained. The AP reported that the victim was tied up for four to five hours.
A person in the video can be heard saying, "(expletive) Donald Trump! (expletive) white people!"
Chicago police, who became aware of the video Tuesday afternoon, posted a statement about the incident on Twitter Wednesday, and said that"the disturbing video that surfaced on social media of a battery … is under investigation/suspects are being questioned."
"At this point CPD believes the video is credible and detectives are questioning persons of interest in the case," police said in the statement.
In a Wednesday press conference, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson described the victim as "an adult male with mental health challenges." On Friday, authorities said the victim has schizophrenia and attention-deficit disorder.
Commanding Officer Steven Sesso said that 11 district officers noticed a person in distress and took him to the hospital, where police said he was traumatized. "At the same time, there were some individuals from another incident that were taken into custody at roughly the same address," Sesso said.
"The officers, working hand in hand, were able to put together the fact that the individual in distress was missing from one of our suburbs and considered an endangered missing.
Sesso said the suspects were then permanently detained based on information gathered from the victim and the determination made by police.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told The Associated Press Thursday that investigators believe the victim was targeted because he has "special needs," although the four black suspects said "terrible racist statements" toward the white male victim.
On Wednesday, Fox 32 reported that, according to police, four people, two males and two females, were in custody.
Police said at the time that the victim was being treated at a local hospital in stable condition and was released.
"We anticipate charges within the next 24 hours," Commander Kevin Duffin said in the Wednesday press conference, adding that the victim is an acquaintance of one of the suspects, whom the victim knew from school.
"It appears (the victim) initially went voluntarily with one of the suspects he knew," Duffin said. "I don't know how the other three got involved."
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