On September 6, over 100 black teens in Memphis, Tennessee, beat three men unconscious. While yelling, joking and laughing, the mob randomly attacked a 25-year-old white man as he walked to his car in a Kroger’s parking lot. When two black store employees rushed to the victim’s aid, they were also beaten. The media largely ignored this attack even though it was videotaped and posted online by an eyewitness who apparently found it entertaining.

The video shows the rowdy teenagers swarming through the parking lot after leaving a restaurant. According to the scant media reports, the mob was looking for a knockout target. The white man happened to be the unlucky victim. But this was no ordinary knockout attack, where a perpetrator tries to knock out an unsuspecting victim with one punch. This was animal-like, sociopathic mob brutality. It’s surprising that no one died.

These thugs beat an innocent person unconscious—continuing to stomp on his head and kick him while he lay unmoving on the asphalt. Then, apparently looking for more fun, the youths took large pumpkins from a nearby produce stand to further smash the victim’s head into the pavement. As one witness said, “All you could see was blood and pumpkins.” The video recorded the bloodthirsty teenagers’ cheers and laughter.

The two store employees who came to the man’s aid were also brutally beaten unconscious.

The same witness explains: “They were playing a game called ‘point them out, knock them out. Where they would point someone out and attempt to knock them out or fight them. There is no real reason behind it.”

“It is extremely troubling to see how many young people were involved,” Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong said. “Last night’s events clearly demonstrate a lack of parental control.”

Such attacks are easily traced to family breakdown, but even more disturbing is the lack of media coverage given to these attacks. This was not an isolated event; they are occurring with more and more regularity. For more information, read “Covering the Effects of Fatherlessness.”