Police ‘Aware of,' Looking Into Second Possible Torture Video

Police said they are aware of the video and are looking into whether it is connected to the earlier Facebook Live incident

Update: Hate crime, kidnapping charges filed after teen's "sickening" Facebook Live attack

Chicago police are investigating whether a second video is connected to the brutal attack of a suburban Chicago teen with special needs on Facebook Live this week. 

The latest video, which appears to have been removed on Facebook, appears to show the suspects forcing a teen to drink from a toilet. 

Police said they have been made aware of the video and are looking into whether it is connected to the earlier Facebook Live incident. 

Charges are expected Thursday against four people who authorities say bound, gagged and violently beat a teenager with special needs while broadcasting the entire attack on social media.

Two men and two women were taken into custody Wednesday after being seen violently beating a teenager on Facebook Live. The suspects are black and the victim is white, and one of the suspects suspects allegedly yelled profanities about white people and President-elect Donald Trump during the attack.

At the center of the attack was an 18-year-old with "mental health challenges" from Crystal Lake. In the initial disturbing video, four people are seen cutting the teen’s hair until his scalp bled, all while he was bound and gagged.  

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the site removed the original video, saying in a statement, "We do not allow people to celebrate or glorify crimes on Facebook."

"In many instances, though, when people share this type of content, they are doing so to condemn violence or raise awareness about it. In that case, the video would be allowed," the statement read.

Police are investigating whether the attack was a hate crime, though they have not yet said that it was. Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi noted early Thursday that officials "have not ruled out hate crime charges" against those involved. 

Guglielmi acknowledged the suspects made "terrible racist statements,” but said that investigators believe the victim may have been targeted because he has "special needs," not because of his race.

Police also do not "have anything concrete" to suggest the attack was politically motivated.

“It’s just sickening, sickening,” Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said Wednesday in reaction to the video. "It makes you wonder what would make individuals treat somebody like that."

Authorities believe the teenager may have gone with one of the attackers willingly at first, police said, after meeting in Chicago’s suburbs, where he lives. The suspects then stole a van and brought the victim to the city, police said.

"I just can't believe anybody would do that to someone, especially a special needs child," the victim's grandmother told NBC.

After the torture, police say the teenager was let go. Officers found the victim walking in the 3400 block of West Lexington on the city’s West Side. He then led the police back to the nearby home where he was tortured.

Police said the suspects had been sending the victim’s parents text messages while holding him hostage.

"This is going to affect him for probably the rest of his life," the teen's grandmother said.

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