Three people were arrested nearly a month after a viral social media post showed them harassing a 12-year-old boy and carving the word “Gay” into his head.
The June 17 Instagram live video appears to show the young boy being harassed and abused by members of his family. It also appeared to show the word gay cut on the side of his head with clippers, as punishment.
“You still doing gay shit. You think I cut this in your head for no reason?,” one person said to the boy in the video.
The boy was removed from the home the day after the video went viral and was placed in the care of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), according to 11 Alive News.
35-year-old Brittney Monique Mills, 19-year-old Lorkeyla Jamia Spencer and 18-year-old Jarrode Richards-Nwankwo have been arrested in relation to the incident, according to Atlanta Police. Mills and Spencer are being charged with cruelty to children, and Richards-Nwankwo has been charged with cruelty to children and battery – family violence.
“The behavior in this social media post was difficult to watch and is absolutely unacceptable. We are appreciative of the number of people who flagged this case with us and for those who provided information on the location where it took place. Our investigators worked hard to identify those involved and to gather the evidence needed to place each behind bars and we are thankful for their work,” Atlanta Police Department said in a statement.
District activist and city council candidate Devin Barrington-Ward said the boy was emotionally stressed both from the experience and the idea of being removed from his home.
“As a Black queer man, I have experienced some of the same homophobia and some of the same abuse by the hands of people that I love as a child,” he said. “If you saw that and you didn’t see anything wrong with that, you’re part of the problem.”