Investigators believe mob was targeting white supremacists

Five men accused of attacking a group of diners with hammers and metal batons at a South suburban restaurant are in jail, though the fight appears to be continuing online as word spread that the incident was apparently linked to a feud between anti-racism groups and white supremacists.

Elements of the two factions have engaged in a cyber-war of words since Saturday, when as many as 18 people wearing hooded sweatshirts and masks or scarves stormed into the Ashford House in Tinley Park. Investigators say the attackers targeted a group of people they believed had ties to a white supremacist organization.

Video of the fight shows a table being knocked over, swinging arms and some men holding up chairs to defend themselves, Mayor Ed Zabrocki said. Prosecutors said the fight caused $15,000 in damage and injured several people, including three who were hospitalized and received staples to their heads.

Those attacked said they belonged to the Illinois European Heritage Association, though at least two were from out of state, Tinley Park Police Chief Steven Neubauer said.

“It’s like you have someone from extreme left field and someone from extreme right field come to center field to fight — and Tinley Park was center field,” Zabrocki said.

On the website of the Hoosier Anti-Racism Movement, there was a plea for money to help defend the “Tinley Park Five.” Emails and Facebook messages sent to the group by The Associated Press on Tuesday weren’t returned, and neither phone numbers nor a website could by be found for the Illinois European Heritage Association.

Another website, the Anti-Racist Action Network, reported the incident in a post that focused on two of the alleged victims being arrested. Tinley Park police confirmed that two people were arrested on charges unrelated to the fight — a North Dakota resident on a warrant for possession of child pornography and a Texas man accused of being a felon in possession of a weapon.

And on Stormfront, a white nationalist website, several posts angrily denounced the alleged attackers as “raving maniacs” and “cowardly left wing thugs.” Another right-wing group, White Reference, reported that the “anti-racist terrorists” invaded the restaurant as part of a “completely unprovoked assault on at least 20 white nationalists gathered for an economic summit.”

Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research for the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks extremist groups, said there is a history of confrontations between anti-racist and white supremacist groups. He said the ADL had seen advertisements for a meeting of a right-wing group at the restaurant.

“This has all been part of the scene for decades. There is a long history of antagonism between these two groups,” he said. “We obviously disapprove of the notion you have to confront them. That is positively counterproductive.”

The five suspects were arrested shortly after the fight when Tinley Park police pulled over a red Dodge Neon, the same kind of car witnesses told police the alleged attackers left in. Prosecutors said police recovered dark hooded sweatshirts, scarves, gloves, a knife and two expandable batons.

The arrested men include three brothers — 20-year-old Dylan Sutherlin, 23-year-old Cody Sutherlin and 33-year-old Jason Sutherlin — along with 22-year-old Alex Stuck and 26-year-old John Tucker. All live in the Bloomington, Ind., area.

They were formally charged in Cook County this week on felony charges of mob action, aggravated battery and criminal damage to property. The men were ordered held in lieu of between $175,000 and $250,000.

They were represented by the county public defender’s office, which declined to comment on the charges. Listed phone numbers for the brothers were disconnected, while messages left at local numbers listed for a John Tucker weren’t returned.

Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, said prosecutors are not characterizing the defendants as “anti-racists.”

“Anyone who would go dressed in black and start clubbing people — I don’t know what their motivation was,” she said.

Tinley Park Police were still looking for 13 others who were involved in the attack, which investigators said had no connection to the NATO summit being held in nearby Chicago.