Our sister station WLBK reports that an 18-year-old DeKalb man is charged with hate crime following a stabbing Wednesday in Hopkins Park in DeKalb, but aggravated battery charges he was initially facing have been dropped.
In court documents, DeKalb Police say witnesses told them that a suspect later identified as Jeremy Lloyd had been calling an African American minor the N-word.
Police say the witnesses that they talked to after being called to Hopkins Park shortly after 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday night also said Lloyd asked the minor to fight and threatened to kill him.
DeKalb Police Cmdr. Bob Redel says the stabbing happened following an altercation between one person and a group of people. Redel has said a knife was used.
