The FBI on Monday opened a federal investigation into a brutal weekend assault in downtown Cincinnati that left a man and woman bloodied and unconscious.
A Justice Department official confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the FBI launched its inquiry at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi. The DOJ official confirmed that the bureau has already begun interviewing suspects in connection with the “upsetting footage of two people being beaten by a gang” but declined to go into more details.
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The investigation comes amid growing national attention on the attack, which was recorded on video and shows a group of people kicking, punching, and stomping a man on the ground, before a woman attempting to intervene is struck in the face and rendered unconscious.
The violence occurred Saturday evening near the site of the Cincinnati Music Festival, though police have said it was not directly connected to the event. The videos, some of which circulated widely on X, show a chaotic scene involving a dozen or more people in the city’s downtown business district.
One day later, Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge said five individuals had been charged in the case, though the records remain sealed and some suspects have not yet been located. She expects more charges to follow.
“I’m in complete disgust waking up to the viral video,” Theetge said Sunday. “The behavior displayed is nothing short of cruel and absolutely unacceptable.”
Theetge added that alcohol “likely played a significant part” in the dispute, which reportedly began with a verbal argument. Notably, only one 911 call was made during the incident, despite dozens of bystanders filming the attack.
“For us to have 100 or so people down there, involved in or watching this event, recording with their cellphones, and for us to get only one phone call is unacceptable,” she said.
Prominent Republican leaders quickly condemned the attack, including Vice President JD Vance, who addressed the brawl during a visit to Canton, Ohio.
“I haven’t seen the full context, but what I saw was a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person, and it’s disgusting,” Vance said. “And I hope every single one of those people who engaged in violence is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And they will be — so long as law enforcement in the state of Ohio take their jobs seriously.”
The vice president’s half-brother, Cory Bowman, is running for mayor of Cincinnati as a Republican and is set to challenge incumbent Aftab Pureval, a Democrat, in November. Pureval released a statement Monday condemning the violence and vowing accountability.
“It’s horrifying to watch,” Pureval said. “Since the fight occurred, I have been in consistent communication with Chief Theetge, and our police have been working around the clock to investigate and bring perpetrators of violence to justice. That’s not who we are as a city.”
Online, the footage triggered a fierce political response. Viral posts from right-leaning accounts such as Libs of TikTok and End Wokeness described the group of assailants as a black “mob” attacking a white couple. Elon Musk weighed in on X, sharing the video and calling for greater media attention.
Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the DOJ, suggested a possible federal civil rights case could be opened depending on what investigators uncover, saying in a post on X that “federal hate crimes laws apply to ALL Americans.”
Our federal hate crimes laws apply to ALL Americans. We @CivilRights will monitor closely how local authorities handle this attack.
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) July 27, 2025
Nobody in our great nation should be the victim of such a crime, and where race is a motivation, federal law may apply. https://t.co/QeADELQMsZ
“We @CivilRights will monitor closely how local authorities handle this attack,” she wrote. “Nobody in our great nation should be the victim of such a crime, and where race is a motivation, federal law may apply.”
Ken Kober, president of the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police, also condemned the attackers and the inaction of onlookers.
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“The violence this video shows downtown is disgusting,” Kober told local news outlet WLWT. He also said he had “full faith” in the Central Business Section Investigators, noting that after the arrests, “It will then be the responsibility of the court system to hold these violent thugs accountable.”
FBI Director Kash Patel has not released a statement, and a spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment, though sources within the DOJ have indicated more information about the investigation is forthcoming.