FBI joins probe into bullying of Georgia teen as crowd demands charges outside hospital
The FBI has joined an investigation into the hazing and alleged torture of Georgia teen Trent Lehrkamp last week — as an angry crowd gathered outside the victim’s hospital to demand justice.
Hundreds of people showed up for a vigil Monday night outside the hospital where Lehrkamp, 19, was being treated, with many in the throng holding candles and demanding legal action against the teens — students at nearby Glynn Academy High School.
No charges have been filed in the case, but local police said they are now consulting with the FBI and other agencies as the probe escalates.
Lehrkamp was dropped off at a Brunswick emergency room early Wednesday morning after he was plied with dangerous amounts of alcohol, urinated on, and spray-painted from head to toe, according to a police report.
The teen was placed on a ventilator in an ICU unit with a sky-high 0.46 blood alcohol level — but his condition has since stabilized, officials said.
The traumatized boy’s father, Mark Lehrkamp, told police that he had been repeatedly hazed and bullied by the same group of boys at a house in the wealthy enclave of Saint Simon’s Island.
The stricken father said his son persists in associating with his assailants “because he has no other friends.”
Several videos and photos of Lehrkamp’s abuse were posted to social media in recent days, sparking anger at the perpetrators and sympathy for the soft-spoken teen.
Police are investigating if a photo circulating on social media was taken from last week’s incident.
The image shows Lehrkamp sitting unconscious in a chair while covered in spray paint as several bird-flipping males stand behind him and mug for the camera.
Just days before Tuesday’s depravity left Lehrkamp near death, his father told police that he went to the same location and came home covered in “WD-40, vomit, paint, glue, egg yolk, and spray paint,” according to court documents.
The teens who dropped Lehrkamp off at the emergency room last week gave staffers their names and phone numbers but departed before police arrived.
According to several outlets, Lehrkamp, a graduate of Glynn Academy, lost his mother just two years ago when she was just 43 years old. She passed away at the same hospital where he is now being treated.