Mount Prospect resident critical over handling of attack by teenagers on men using an LGBTQ dating app
A Mount Prospect resident called the village’s delay in sharing information about an attack by mobs of teens on two men over the summer a betrayal of the community.
The men were lured by an LGBTQ dating app, Grindr.
“The gay community was not protected,” said resident Carole Martz, who delivered her remarks at Tuesday’s village board meeting.
But police Chief Michael Eterno explained the reasons behind the delay in sharing the information about the attacks, which didn’t come out until late last month. He also ruled out sexual orientation as a motive in the attacks.
Shortly after details of the attacks, which occurred July 8 but were only released last month, were revealed the story was picked up by international and national news outlets, including NBC, which mentioned Mount Prospect in a story about an attack on a man lured by a dating app and attacked by college students in Massachusetts.
Mount Prospect police arrested 11 teenage boys in November, including nine from Mount Prospect and two from Arlington Heights. The boys, including one 16-year-old and 10 17-year-olds, were charged with felony counts of aggravated battery, criminal damage to property and mob action. One of the 17-year-old boys from Mount Prospect was charged with a hate crime for yelling a racial term and another derogatory term.
Both victims, a 41-year-old man and a 23-year-old man, were lured to separate locations in the village and battered. The teens also damaged their vehicles. Initially, police did not reveal that it was an LGBTQ dating app. However, police said some of the teenage offenders were inspired by a viral social media trend they saw online.
“At the end of the day, we do not believe that sexual orientation was the motive,” Eterno said, who added he could not immediately reveal the motive.
Martz called the communication delay a lapse in judgment in providing public safety to residents, especially the LGBTQ community.
“If something happened back in July and it wasn’t common knowledge in the community, those people’s lives, I believe, were put at risk. I think the delay in sharing correct information with our community was kind of a betrayal of our trust,” she said.
Eterno said he understood her concerns. But he said police do not want to release information that would jeopardize an investigation.
“In this case, the offenders were identified and dealt with in days to come after the event, so we felt we had put a stop to it. That gave us the opportunity to start with the investigation,” he said.
He said the investigation took several months and involved sifting through electronic data and working with the state’s attorney’s office. He also said the department was sensitive to the victims.
“We’re cautious even with a press release, because we don’t want to re-traumatize our victims,” he said.
