Teens charged after unprovoked Chicago bus attack leaves 62-year-old man in coma, and it’s not his first time being targeted

A 62-year-old Chicago man is alive today, but his family is describing a recovery that comes with fear, confusion, and a long road back.

In a WGN News report, Christine Flores said three teenagers are now charged in a brutal beating on a CTA bus that left Larry Gilkey in a coma. Flores reported that two of the suspects will be handled as juveniles, while one will be tried as an adult.

And in a separate CBS Chicago report, Jermont Terry added the detail that makes this story even harder to swallow: this wasn’t the first time Gilkey said he was attacked on CTA. Terry reported Gilkey was also attacked and robbed on the Blue Line in July 2024, meaning this is his second violent CTA incident in less than two years.

That “repeat victim” angle is what sticks in your head, because it takes the story from “random crime” into something that feels like a pattern of public spaces failing the same person twice.

What Prosecutors Say Happened On The CTA Bus

Flores reported the attack happened around 5:40 p.m. in the 700 block of South Cicero Avenue, on a West Side CTA bus in the Austin area, according to court documents.

In Flores’ telling, court records described a verbal altercation that escalated quickly. Prosecutors alleged that a female and two male suspects ran toward Gilkey at the front of the bus and began striking him, knocking him down.

Flores said prosecutors claimed the suspects then punched, kicked, and stomped Gilkey as he lay on the ground near the bus door.

One of the most disturbing parts of Flores’ report is what the court documents allegedly say happened next: the driver stopped the bus and opened the door, but the suspects kept striking Gilkey even as he lay motionless, before stepping off the bus and walking north on Cicero.

If that’s what the surveillance video shows, it paints a picture of an attack that wasn’t a quick shove or a messy scuffle. It sounds like sustained violence against someone who was already down.

Flores reported police and paramedics found Gilkey unresponsive and suffering significant blunt force trauma. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he remains under treatment.

“Unprovoked,” The Family Says – And A Request For Money

Flores spoke with Gilkey’s nephew, Tavarris Harvey, who described what he believes started the whole thing.

Harvey told Flores he believes it began when one of the teens asked Gilkey for money, possibly to ride the bus. Harvey said when Gilkey pulled out the money to give it over, he was attacked, adding that this is about the only part Gilkey seems to remember.

That detail hits like a punch, because it means the act of trying to help – if that’s what happened – may have been the opening that got used against him.

Flores also reported Harvey describing the aftermath in the hospital: Gilkey woke up and didn’t know where he was, and didn’t recognize who was in front of him.

That kind of confusion is one of the cruelest side effects of a serious head injury. Even after the danger passes, you’re left with a person trying to rebuild their own sense of reality.

Terry echoed the memory issues in his CBS Chicago report, saying Gilkey had short-term memory loss after waking and that he’s got a long recovery ahead.

Charges, Court Dates, And How Police Say They Found The Suspects

Flores reported that a 15-year-old male and a 15-year-old female were arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated battery.

Flores said 18-year-old Lyndale Roberts Jr. was also arrested and charged in the attack, including felony aggravated battery counts along with additional misdemeanor counts.

Flores also reported a key piece of how arrests came together: she said the female juvenile was also charged with attempting to steal a vehicle on Sunday in the Austin neighborhood, and she and Roberts were taken into custody as part of that vehicle theft investigation.

According to Flores, officials said at least three witnesses positively identified the suspects, along with still photos pulled from surveillance video.

That matters because these cases can fall apart when identification is shaky. Multiple witnesses, plus video stills, is the kind of combination prosecutors lean on hard—especially when the assault is as serious as a coma.

Flores reported the court outcomes for now: the two juveniles were ordered held in custody and were set to return to court on Dec. 30, while Roberts was also ordered detained and due back in court on Dec. 29.

Gilkey Wakes Up – But The Fear Is Still There

In Flores’ WGN report, Harvey said Gilkey is awake and alert, but doesn’t recall much.

Harvey told Flores his uncle is happy to be alive, angry about the attack, and angry that it was “a bunch of children,” but also relieved they were caught.

Terry’s CBS Chicago report goes further into how Gilkey himself described it from his hospital room.

Terry reported Gilkey told him, “I feel better,” while also making clear he’s shaken and not ready to ride CTA again. Terry quoted Gilkey saying the only thing he remembers is getting on the bus, and that’s the last thing he recalls.

That’s the part that should worry CTA riders most: if your memory cuts off at “getting on,” then public transit stops feeling like transportation and starts feeling like Russian roulette.

Terry reported the attack left Gilkey in a medically induced coma for five days, with bleeding on the brain.

That timeline also raises an uncomfortable point: in stories like this, people sometimes casually say, “He survived.” But surviving isn’t the finish line. Surviving is step one, and everything after that is rehab, paperwork, fear, and a life that may never feel fully normal again.

“Second Attack In Less Than Two Years” And The Blue Line Robbery

This is where Terry’s reporting changes the meaning of the whole case.

Terry reported that Gilkey said he was attacked and robbed on July 2, 2024 at the Forest Park stop on the Blue Line.

Terry quoted Gilkey saying he walked away from that first attack, but this time was different – this time he ended up in a coma.

Harvey, in Terry’s report, made the argument families always end up making after repeat violence: accountability and prevention. He pushed for tougher consequences, and he also insisted CTA security needs to improve on buses and trains.

Terry quoted Harvey with a grim line that says what a lot of families think but don’t always say out loud: the second time put him in a coma, and the third time could mean death.

That statement isn’t just frustration. It’s a warning about probability. If someone keeps getting targeted in the same system, eventually the odds catch up.

Community Help, A GoFundMe, And A “Secret Santa” Twist

Both reports mentioned fundraising, because the financial side of violent crime can be brutal all by itself.

Flores reported Gilkey’s family created a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses and rent.

Terry reported the family has been grateful for donations, but he also included a striking detail: he said a “Secret Santa” contacted the family on Christmas Eve offering a large amount of cash and even a car, with taxes and registration paid for a year, so Gilkey can feel safer when he leaves the hospital.

It’s a wild detail, and I’ll be honest – stories like that can sound almost too perfect for real life. But it also rings true in a Chicago way: people get furious about violence, and sometimes that fury turns into generosity for the victim, especially when the victim feels like somebody’s uncle, somebody’s neighbor, somebody who could easily be your family.

Still, the fact that a car donation becomes part of the recovery plan is also a sad commentary on public transit trust. When a person is scared to ride CTA after being attacked twice, the “solution” becomes: don’t ride it.

That’s not a real fix for the city. That’s a workaround for one injured person.

“Kids Being Kids” Doesn’t Fit What’s Alleged Here

The word “teen” can sometimes soften how people picture a crime. It shouldn’t.

Based on what Flores described from court documents – punching, kicking, and stomping a 62-year-old man until he’s motionless – this doesn’t read like a childish mistake. It reads like cruelty, with the kind of force that can permanently change a human brain.

And Terry’s “second attack” detail should alarm anyone who rides CTA regularly, because it suggests the system can fail the same person twice in public, in predictable places, with predictable vulnerabilities.

None of this means every teenager on the CTA is dangerous. Most aren’t. But it does mean the city has to stop acting like violence on public transit is some unsolvable weather pattern.

More cameras can help identify suspects after the fact. But riders need prevention – visible security presence, quicker response, and a real plan for what happens when a bus becomes a moving crime scene.

Because if Larry Gilkey’s story is now two attacks deep, the worst possible headline would be a third one.