A group of murder suspects in Philadelphia allegedly bragged about their alleged crimes in a series of YouTube videos, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office announced this week.
The four suspects, identified as Dontae Sutton, Jamir Brunson-Gans, Elijah Soto and Khalil Henry, ages 18 to 20, have been charged with homicide and gun crimes, according to ABC6. The four men are reportedly members of a gang and are responsible for five shootings, including two victims who died.
Reportedly, the men posted videos on YouTube to brag about their crimes “and that their motivation for these murders and shootings was notoriety.”
"This group sought notoriety, sought infamy, they sought attention, that was part of the motivation for each and every one of these shootings," Philadelphia Asst. District Attorney Joseph Lenuti said. "They do have a social media presence online, they've posted it themselves."
District Attorney Larry Krasner added that “this is a trend that we’ve seen in the last few years, that was not around a decade ago.”
The men are responsible for shootings dating back to 2021. In text messages between them, they reportedly boasted that they put “the H in homicide.”
This week, Fox Business reported how a phenomenon known as “performance crime” is driving an uptick in certain types of crime, including vehicle thefts. Reportedly, Hyundai and Kia have had thousands of vehicles targeted for theft due to viral videos posted on social media that expose vulnerabilities in certain models of cars. One woman’s Kia was stolen twice in one day, the Associated Press noted.
In another example, a group of young men filmed themselves storming into random people’s houses while filming the homeowners’ reactions. A viral video posted by one of the men, who has since deleted his account, sparked intense backlash (Daily Mail):
The video, which MailOnline has blurred to protect the privacy of the homeowners, begins with him and two other friends posing to the camera, saying: 'Walking into random houses, let's go.'
In since-deleted footage, the group walk through a black gate, ignoring a woman in the front garden before letting themselves into the London home.
Despite the woman shouting, 'Excuse me what are you doing?', the teens walk through the ajar door as the woman calls to someone inside the home.
Visibly anxious from the intrusion, she shouts: 'Come to the front door right now' as the group advances into the property.
Appearing to mock the woman, they then imitate her by calling for the man downstairs while filming a tour of the house upstairs.
As the father makes his way up the stairs, leaving his toddler downstairs, the group continues to intimidate the homeowners by walking around their house.
One of them asks the man 'Is this where the study group is?' before they walk into different rooms, filming the inside of the home and even lying down on the sofas.
The group of three then leave the property only when the man says that he has children - who can be heard calling for their parents in the background of the video.
This is not the first time the group has posted videos of themselves intruding into properties.
In the past, they have posted videos entering a Jewish family's home, while they have also targeted schools and prohibited areas of supermarkets.
Fox noted that TikTok has faced ”mounting scrutiny” over its security concerns and that it “intensifies” performance crimes.
"We take our responsibility to keep our community safe seriously, which is why we strictly prohibit and remove dangerous behavior. There is no evidence any of these challenges ever ‘trended’ on TikTok, and there is a clear, documented history that many challenges falsely associated with TikTok pre-date the platform entirely,” the company reportedly said in a statement.
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