LONGVIEW, Texas — A young college student was viciously jumped by a group of women who allegedly chanted “Free Karmelo” and declared they were hunting “the smallest white girl they could find” as she walked to her car after a night out.
Sammie Lee, who had recently moved to East Texas and was out for drinks with her best friend at Whiskey J’s bar, says everything was fine inside the nightclub. But the moment she stepped outside in the early hours of June 21, a pack of strangers attacked her without warning.
“While getting jumped, they were yelling out ‘free karmelo’…. saying they was going to target the smallest white girl they could find. A case that absolutely have nothing to do with me,” Lee wrote in a graphic Facebook post that has since gone viral.
The vicious beating left Lee with a black eye, multiple bruises and cuts, and a head wound that required staples. She was left bleeding from the back of her head and face.
A short but disturbing video circulating online shows the bloodied victim in a hospital bed wearing a neck brace, her face swollen and marked with injuries, blood visible on her clothes and skin as she documents the aftermath.
Lee, who said she never spoke to or even looked at her attackers and didn’t know them, was left stunned by the unprovoked assault.“This shit is not okay!!!!!!” she wrote. “The world is already a messed up place, WHAT DID YALL GET OUT OF THIS?!!!!!! The people who know me, absolutely know I didn’t deserve this.”
The chilling chant referenced Karmelo Anthony, the 19-year-old convicted of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf in a stabbing at a Frisco high school track meet last year. Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison earlier this month, sparking outrage and a “Free Karmelo” movement among some supporters.
Longview police confirmed the assault outside the bar on TX-63 Spur and moved quickly. Three women, Ciarrianne Fuller, 21, of Longview; Dejae Brown, 21, of Pittsburg; and Alana Mumphrey, 21, of Longview, have all been charged with assault causing bodily injury.
Fuller was arrested earlier in the week and booked into Gregg County Jail on a $20,000 bond. Brown and Mumphrey later surrendered and faced the same charges with identical bonds. All three have since been released pending further proceedings.
Lee said she plans to press charges against everyone involved and shared photos of her injuries as evidence of the brutal attack.
The case has sparked outrage online, with many questioning how a random night out turned into a targeted beating tied to a high-profile murder conviction that has nothing to do with the victim.
Longview police continue to investigate. The disturbing images and video of Lee’s injuries have only intensified calls for justice in what many are calling a senseless and cowardly attack.
