Suspects Charged in CTA Attack on College Student

A man and a woman have been charged in the brutal attack on a college student riding the Blue Line in April. 

Dwayne Mills, 25, of the 4900 block of W. Congress Pkwy, and Chitonia Shorter, 18, of the 220 block of W 54th Pl are each charged with one felony count of robbery, according to the Chicago Police Department.

Police said the two suspects approached 19-year-old Jessica Hughes on the Blue Line near the Kedzie stop, and attempted to take her cell phone by punching her. Police said Mills also bit the victim in the hand during the assault, which occurred on April 28 around 10:15 a.m.

A 19-year-old college student in Chicago was returning home from a morning class Thursday when she says she was attacked by two people on a Chicago Blue Line train, all while witnesses sat and watched.

A 19-year-old freshman at DePaul University, Hughes said she was simply returning home from a morning class when the two people attacked her for her iPhone, all while witnesses sat and watched. 

She said she suffered a black eye, a broken nose and bite marks in the attack.

“He grabs me, pushes me to the floor, and he started beating on my head repeatedly,” she said. “He grabs my hand, looks me in the eye and bites my hand.”

According to Hughes, the woman joined the attack, breaking her nose. Two men were also in the train car with her, she said, but they simply watched the attack happen. 

“He kept beating me,” she said. “I yelled for help and no one came.”

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