Attack on Massachusetts transgender teen being investigated as possible hate crime

An attack on a transgender teenager in Massachusetts is being investigated as a possible hate crime, police said Wednesday.

Jayden Tkaczyk, 16, had been at a party in a wooded area of Gloucester, Mass., when he was allegedly assaulted by a group of teenagers around 10:45 p.m. Friday, according to local authorities. The Gloucester Police Department said in a news release that “the parties involved in this incident are known to one another.”

Tkaczyk told NBC Boston on Wednesday that 20 to 30 people attacked him, many of them classmates, and he believes he was targeted because of his gender identity.

“One second, I was having fun, the next second, I was on the ground getting my face stomped and beat up,” Tkaczyk said. “They were just saying the F slur over and over and over as they were punching me and stomping me.”

One of the alleged assailants, he said, is dating his ex-girlfriend, “so he really doesn’t like me.”

Tkaczyk, a junior at Topsfield Vocational Academy in Topsfield, Mass., told The Associated Press he feared for his life during the attack, from which he sustained serious injuries. He is recovering from a broken bone in his face, nerve damage, a head injury and bruises covering his body.

“As I was getting hit, it was terrifying,” Tkaczyk said. “I thought I was going to die, but I tried to keep a positive mindset.”

Tkaczyk said he has endured over a decade of bullying at school because he is transgender, and the school district has done little to address it.

“He’s been bullied by these children for years because he’s trans,” his mother, Jasmine Tkaczyk, told reporters Wednesday.

Craig Rourke, Jayden Tkaczyk’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment but told ABC News he considers the incident a hate crime.

“The motives of the perpetrators seem pretty clear in their own words,” he said.

Gloucester Police Chief Edward Conley said it is still too soon to say definitively whether the attack was motivated by prejudice against Tkaczyk’s identity.

“It’s too early to tell right now, but there’s some information we have from statements — early statements — that in an abundance of caution, we’re going to assign a specially trained investigator to lead the investigation, who is specially trained in hate crime investigations,” Conley said Wednesday at a press conference.

“We’re taking these allegations in this situation very seriously,” said Gloucester Mayor Greg Verga. “There’ll be a full and impartial investigation.”

Because the investigation is ongoing and involves minors, officials are limited in what details they can share publicly, Conley and Verga said Wednesday.

Gloucester Public Schools Superintendent Ben Lummis said the district is handling the allegations “with the highest level of concern” and is cooperating with the police department in its investigation.

Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey (D) called for a thorough inquiry into the attack in a social media post on Wednesday.

“There should be no place in our Commonwealth or our country for violence against trans children,” he said. “I am with Jayden & the entire transgender community. We must love, protect & respect trans kids.”

The incident comes amid a surge in hate crimes against LGBTQ people, according to FBI crime statistics, with anti-LGBTQ hate crimes rising sharply in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available.

Hate crimes motivated by an anti-transgender bias rose more than 35 percent, reaching 338 incidents, the agency reported in October.