Cincinnati police are looking for another mob attack suspect — and videos appear to depict him as the first individual to go after the white male who slapped a black male in the face immediately before the beatdown late last month.
Police provided an image of the suspect in question and said in their X post that “Central Business Section is investigating a Felonious Assault offense that occurred on 4th Street and Elm on July 26, 2025. If you have any information, please contact Det. Blank at 513-352-5442.”
‘You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit in the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger, and you don’t slap a black man in the face.’
The suspect in question is seen in the photo wearing a dark bucket-style hat with white lettering on the front, a white short-sleeved shirt with black lettering and multicolored designs, black shorts, and red and white sneakers.
One cellphone video appears to show a rear view of the suspect standing just to the right of the black male whose face was slapped by the white male. Just after the slap, the still-unknown suspect — whose shirt seems to read “Loyalty Is Rare” among other words on the back — appears to punch at the white male, after which others join in and also go after the white male.
A second cellphone video shows the same thing as the previous video, except it was recorded from the front. However, from the front angle, the suspect’s apparent retaliation against the white male seems rather minimal; his thrown punch and shove don’t appear to do any damage, and he’s quickly pulled away. However, others who join in appear to be more successful in their physical attacks.
A third cellphone video — which is the main clip of the attack — appears to show the suspect following two attackers who go after the white male and knock him down in the street; soon he’s thoroughly beaten up with punches and stomps. However, in the third clip the suspect in question doesn’t appear to get physical with anybody, including the white male he appeared to go after following the earlier slap.
Cincinnati police on Tuesday didn’t immediately respond to Blaze News’ request for comment about the suspect — specifically if police view him as helping to fuel the mob attack, or if other videos show him doing other things. Police on Tuesday also didn’t immediately respond to Blaze News’ request for comment regarding if the white male who delivered the slap will be charged.
Cincinnati’s black leaders have said the case’s prosecution so far has been unfair to the black community — and they’ve demanded charges against the white male seen on video slapping the face of a black male just prior to the mob attack breaking out.
“What incited and who incited the rioting? If the riot is because of a slap, who incited the rioting?” Rev. Damon Lynch said recently to a crowd at New Prospect Baptist Church, WXIX-TV reported.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval around the same time said, “If you slap someone, if you engage in that kind of violence, you should be held accountable. I’m not going to tell the investigators what to do; that’s not my role,” WXIX said in a separate story.
BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock — who’s been commenting on the mob beatdown since it all unfolded late last month — blasted Cincinnati’s black leaders for their collective stance.
One of the clips Whitlock aired shows Rev. Lynch altering the lyrics of a Jim Croce song for his own purposes as he spoke to the crowd at church: “You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit in the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger, and you don’t slap a black man in the face.”
Whitlock responded to Lynch’s words by saying, “Why is he racializing this? It’s disrespectful to slap anyone, regardless of color, in the face. Is he saying … if a black person slaps a black person in the face, it’s OK? If a black gang member shoots a black man in the face, it’s OK? If a black gang member accidentally shoots some young black child, it’s OK? But everybody knows that you don’t slap a black man in the face, I guess, unless you’re black. He’s in a church talking about common street thugs — and I’ll include the white guy in that, because he … seemed to be trying to fight with someone. … [The reverend is] justifying to the people in that audience and other black people in Cincinnati that if you get slapped in the face by a white person, a gang of you all should jump on that man and beat up the woman. This is inside of a church! This is insanity; this is lack of humility.”
Chief Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Kip Guinan also addressed the face slap, saying that it came after someone else was already beaten, not before, WXIX reported in another story. Guinan also acknowledged that racial slurs are audible on some of the videos of the mob attack — however, he said the slurs were uttered “a minute and 47 seconds into the brutal beatdown,” the station reported.
“Were there words said? Yes. Were they inappropriate? Absolutely,” Guinan also noted, WXIX reported, before adding that “these poor people were being assaulted, stomped WWE-style, elbow-drops onto pavement. One woman was knocked out to the point her head hit the pavement. We could be here on a homicide.”
So far, seven suspects have been charged in connection with the mob attack. Six of them — four males and two females — have been indicted on eight charges each: three counts of felonious assault, three counts of assault, and two counts of aggravated riot. Those six face nearly 30 years in jail if convicted on all charges.
The two female suspects got big breaks last week from a judge who reduced their bonds of several hundred thousand dollars each down to $25,000 each, of which they owed just 10%. Fox News said the two females were released from jail Friday.
(L to R) Dekyra Vernon, Aisha Devaughn. Image source: Hamilton County (Ohio) Sheriff, composite
The seventh suspect — 32-year-old Gregory Wright — was indicted Friday for aggravated riot and aggravated robbery, WXIX reported in another story, citing court records. Wright pleaded not guilty at his initial arraignment, the station said.
Police said in a criminal complaint that Wright “did by force rip the necklace off the victim while he was being assaulted by four or more co-defendants attempting to cause serious physical harm,” WXIX said, adding that a police flyer indicated Wright put the necklace in his pocket and then took video of the rest of the mob attack. Wright remained behind bars Tuesday evening, jail records show.
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