A criminal case was brought against three teenagers for beating a transgender teenager at a party in Massachusetts.
The Gloucester Police Department said officers responded to a report of an assault in an abandoned wooded area near Dogtown Road between Goose Cove and Babson Reservoir in Gloucester on Aug. 30.
One teenager was taken to a local hospital with injuries.
On Friday, Gloucester police announced they were charging three teenagers, two 17-year-olds and one 16-year-old with assault and battery, in connection with the attack.
The police said that the incident began as a “party at forests” and that all four men involved knew each other.
Police have not publicly named either the victim or the suspects.
But 16-year-old victim Jayden Tkachyk spoke out and identified himself to local media.
Tkachyk said he believes he was attacked because he is transgender, as he claimed the alleged attackers hurled anti-LGBTQ slurs at him, WCVB reported
The teenager said about 20-30 people joined the attack, brutally beating, kicking and trampling him.
“One second I was having fun, the next second I was lying on the ground, getting punched in the face,” said the teenager NBC News.
“They just said obscenities over and over as they punched and stomped on me.”
The teenager has a broken bone under his right eye, as well as numerous bruises and scratches on his body, the publication reports. Associated Press.
He said he was bullied at school for being transgender and was even kicked off Gloucester High School’s football team, according to AP.
Gloucester Police said they had been investigating the incident for the past three months and had deployed a specially trained hate crime investigator.
But the evidence so far does not support hate crime charges, police said.
The three suspects will now face a court hearing to determine if there is probable cause to file charges.
The Independent has reached out to Gloucester police and the victim’s mother for comment.