Hate Crime Charges Filed After Vicious Attack On Lesbian Teen Inside A McDonald’s
Kady Grass has returned home and is recovering. Her attackers will now face justice.
Two people have been indicted on felony charges, including hate crime, after they attacked a 19-year-old woman inside a Carpentersville, Illinois McDonald’s earlier this month.
According to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, John Kammrad, 19, and a 16-year-old boy face multiple charges stemming from the May 13 incident. Both are charged with hate crime and mob action and face multiple counts of aggravated battery. The 16-year-old’s name has not been released due to his age.
The victim, Kady Grass, said she had stopped at the restaurant with her 13-year-old cousin after attending a choir concert. As she exited the women’s restroom, she said a group of people began harassing her using anti-gay slurs.
“I just told my cousin to look forward. ‘Don’t say anything. Don’t give them a reason to talk to us again,’” Grass told CBS News.
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Grass said she eventually told the group she is a lesbian and made a flicking gesture with her wrist. According to police and prosecutors, surveillance video and witness accounts show two people then assaulted her.
Prosecutors allege that Kammrad and the teen repeatedly beat and kicked Grass, including blows to her head. She was left with a fractured nose, hemorrhaging in her eye, and lingering trauma from the attack.
“I genuinely think that their plan was to kill me, and that they didn’t care if they ended my life that day,” Grass said.
Photos shared online show visible injuries across her face and legs. She told NBC Chicago that she lost consciousness during the attack and that her cousin witnessed the incident.
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“One hit me in the jaw and one was hitting me in the front and then I didn’t realize that I was getting hit behind until a little bit later, like it took me a while to realize. I was unconscious when they were stomping on my head so I don’t remember that part, but my 13-year-old cousin does,” she said.
Initially, Kammrad was charged with two counts of aggravated battery and one count of mob action. After further review, the Kane County State’s Attorney added hate crime charges to both defendants.
“Like all cases we handle, my office filed these charges following a thorough investigation and an unbiased review of the facts,” State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said in a statement. “These allegations are serious and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Everyone deserves to feel safe in public spaces, and no one should be attacked because of their gender identity or sexual orientation, as is alleged in this case. We must make it clear that Kane County is a community that welcomes all.”
Grass has since returned home to Wisconsin and says she is recovering with support from family and friends. She continues to speak out about what happened.
“How it started was because I’m a lesbian — just because I walked into the woman’s bathroom, and I looked the way I look,” she said.
