Illinois police say 11 teens brutally beat men they targeted using a gay dating app

Police in Illinois said video evidence helped identify 11 teens they arrested for beating two men they had lured using a gay dating app. Activists and police warn the attacks are part of a larger social media trend where straight teens and adults target and lure gay men for assault.

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Mount Prospect Police Chief Michael Eterno said the teens attacked the two men in two different incidents on the evening of July 8, 2024. The victims were two gay men, aged 41 and 23, who responded to ads placed on an unnamed gay dating app. After arriving at the locations, a combination gas station and convenience store parking lot and a residential street in a different part of town, the teens allegedly attacked the men and vandalized their cars. Both victims were able to escape and report the attacks to police.

The charged teens were all aged 17 except for one boy aged 16. Police say all 11 participated in one or both attacks. Each was charged with either one or two felony counts each of Aggravated Battery, Criminal Damage to Property, and Mob Action. One of the 17-year-olds was also charged with two felony Hate Crime counts for “yelling a racial and another derogatory term” during the attacks.

The attacks are reportedly part of a wider trend where teens use gay dating apps to target adult gay men they say are attempting to hook up with underage males.

“This is a worldwide phenomenon. Not just the United States, not just Australia,” Andy Thayer of the Gay Liberation Network told local ABC affiliate WLS.

Related: 12 Maryland college students arrested in alleged Grindr hate crime video attack

Thayer said individuals use dating apps like Grindr to “lie in wait for people and unfortunately attack them.”

Police Chief Eterno agreed the trend is real and problematic.

“We are asking parents to take these incidents as an opportunity to talk with their teenage children about the seriousness of actively participating in these types of trends they see on social media,” Eterno said in a press release.

The 11 teens all voluntarily surrendered for arrest between Nov. 11 and Nov. 20.