The woman viciously pummeled in a viral Cincinnati brawl has returned home to Russia — as relatives of one of the attackers claim the brutal beatdown is only drawing national outrage because the victim is white, according to reports.
The female victim — identified as Holly by a US senator from Ohio — was left with a gruesome black eye, busted lip, and bruises covering her face and neck after being knocked out during the horrifying melee that erupted in the city’s downtown early Saturday, shocking footage and photos showed.
The viral footage showed what appeared to be Holly getting sucker-punched and knocked out cold, with blood pouring from her mouth as she lay defenseless on the ground after trying to intervene to help someone during the heinous rumble.
The Russian woman was hospitalized with severe injuries but returned to her home country after being released, a Cincinnati Police Department spokesperson told USA Today.
Police said Dekyra Vernon — one of the five brawlers arrested and charged — was a bystander watching the fight when she approached the unsuspecting victim and clobbered her to the ground.
Explore More
Man arrested after using hammer to break windows at JD Vance’s Cincinnati home
Weekend winter storm to hit Northeast coast amid brutal cold from polar vortex, bringing snow for millions
Cincinnati City Council candidate busted for breaking into Republican ex-girlfriend’s home on Halloween
“She just interjected herself into a brawl on the street,” Cincinnati police Detective Barney Blank said of 24-year-old Vernon, the outlet reported.
The startling videos appeared to show a white man and woman — believed to be Holly — being relentlessly targeted by a group of largely black assailants during the early morning rampage.
Follow for the latest on the Cincinnati brawl that left single mother viciously beaten
- Cincinnati leaders ‘demanding prosecution’ of white man who used racial slur in viral street brawl
- Single mom battered by Cincinnati mob slams ‘insulting’ police chief for calling the beatdown an ‘incident’
- Single mom knocked out by Cincinnati mob opens up about her pain and panic: ‘I should be dead’
- Fourth slugger busted in Cincinnati brawl as new video shows moments before melee
The two victims were ruthlessly punched and stomped on as they cowered on the ground, with the woman eventually laid out, according to the viral footage.
Montianez Merriweather, 34, Jermaine Matthews, 39, and Vernon are among the assailants arrested and charged with felonious assault, assault and aggravated riot.
Police alleged Merriweather and Matthews coordinated the “ambush” attack.
Merriweather appeared in court Thursday, and his family claimed afterward that the fight has only drawn so much attention and outrage because of race.
“If it was an African American woman who got knocked out … We wouldn’t have been going through all this,” one of his unidentified loved ones told WLWT outside the courthouse.
Desire Merriweather, the alleged rumbler’s cousin, expressed sympathy for the victims but insisted her relative is not a “racist,” pointing to his biracial son as evidence.
US Sen. Bernardo Moreno (R-Ohio) released harrowing photos of a bruised and battered Holly on Thursday.
Raging grandma’s blistering three-word blast at her ex son-in-law and his cop wife after FSU shooter grandson ‘killed two’
By GREG WOODFIELD, US SENIOR REPORTER
Published: 20:24 GMT, 18 April 2025 | Updated: 20:28 GMT, 18 April 2025
35shares
FSU alleged shooter Phoenix Ikner’s distraught biological family have lashed out at his father and cop step-mom in an exclusive DailyMail.com interview – broadly blaming them for turning the 20-year-old into a suspected killer.
Highly emotional maternal grandmother Susan Eriksen branded Ikner’s father Christopher and his sheriff’s deputy wife Jessica ‘rotten bastard people’ for their influence over ‘the smartest, sweetest kid’.
She revealed that she and Ikner’s mother Anne Mari Eriksen had not seen alleged double-killer Ikner for 10 years despite repeated attempts following a messy custody battle.
Ikner, who reportedly promoted white supremacist views, is accused of killing two people and wounding six others when he allegedly opened fire on the Florida State University campus in state capital Tallahassee on Thursday.
‘They taught him how to hunt, they’re bigoted people, they hated a lot of people,’ said 79-year-old grandmother Susan at her Tallahassee condo on Friday.
‘He was the sweetest kid, smart…’ she added before breaking down.
Recovering her composure and clearly very angry amid all the grief, she went on: ‘The rotten bastard people.
‘We had just found a new phone number a couple of months ago and tried to call the house and the father picked up the phone, hung up and changed the number. That was Chrissie, a**shole.
+13
View gallery
FSU alleged shooter Phoenix Ikner’s grandmother Susan Eriksen (pictured) branded his father Christopher and his sheriff’s deputy wife Jessica ‘rotten b*****d people’ for their influence over ‘the smartest, sweetest kid’
His biological mother Anne Mari Eriksen often shared photos of her son on social media before she lost custody. His grandmother said his father and stepmom taught him how to hunt and were ‘bigoted people’
Ikner’s biological mother, Anne Mari, has not seen her alleged double-killer son for 10 years despite repeated attempts following a messy custody battle.
‘I have no idea what we’re going to do now. I have no idea.’
When asked how her daughter, Ikner’s mother, is right now, the grandmother replied, ‘she’s a basket case’, meaning all over the place.
At that point a tearful Anne Marie, 46, appeared at the door of the neat home where she is staying with her mother.
Reeling with emotion, she said: ‘I’m just as shocked as everybody else… I’m sorry, this is very hard. It’s very upsetting, it’s very upsetting… you just don’t think this is going to happen. There’s a lot of up and down today.’
Grandmother Susan interceded: ‘I had heard that he was at FSU, not that they (Christopher and Jessica) told us, they never told us anything.
TRENDING
Headmaster who attacked deputy after discovering love triangle talks
10.6k viewing nowKate’s inner circle may have inadvertently stabbed her in the back45.2k viewing nowBritain on high alert for snow and ice as Storm Goretti edges in2k viewing now
‘And first I called my daughter to tell her there was a problem (on the campus) and I was worried about him… when we knew Christian he had no problems. He had ADHD, that’s it. He was a great student. He was sweet, sweet. It was the worst custody fight.’
She revealed they were investigating ways to visit Ikner, ‘but they won’t let anyone in there to see him’.
Both women shut down the conversation before they could be asked about their sympathies for the families of the dead and those who were wounded in the rampage.
+13
View gallery
Jessica Ikner and her husband Chris have raised Ikner and allegedly barred his biological mother’s side of the family from seeing him
+13
View gallery
Phoenix Ikner is a registered Republican who was described by some classmates as a ‘fascist’
+13
View gallery
Jessica was referred to as Ikner’s mom at the press conference on Thursday. The 20-year-old used her weapon to kill two people and injure another six
Daily Mail.com has reached out to Christopher and Jessica Ikner regarding the Eriksens’ claims but they have so far not responded.
Her grandson Phoenix Ikner, 20, was identified later by cops as the shooter, with authorities revealing he was the son of sheriff’s deputy Jessica Ikner and had used her weapon to kill two people and injure another six.
Eriksen insists she is Ikner’s biological mom. She and Ikner’s father had been locked in a bitter legal battle years prior, and by all accounts he’s been largely raised by his father and Jessica.
She fumed on Facebook post around 4pm, minutes before her son was publicly named as the killer.
‘Horrible when your alienating son’s dad is as mentally unstable as he is, along with his LCSO cop wife, that they can’t respond when you write to ask if everything is alright with my son, who studies ar [sic] FSU,’ she wrote in a now-deleted post.
‘That whole familly [sic] is nuts. He should write a book on how to parent badly, but he can’t communicate.’
Then, she added: ‘Feel sorry for everyone at FSU and their kids.’
Just two hours after the initial post a friend responded, asking ‘are you ok?’
+13
View gallery
Ikner and his stepmom Jessica posing together when he was little
+13
View gallery
Eriksen does not have a relationship with her son, but maintains on social media that she gave birth to him. She and Ikner’s father were locked in a bitter custody dispute
+13
View gallery
The alleged shooter who killed two people and injured several more at FSU on Thursday has been identified as the son of Leon County Sheriff’s Deputy Jessica Ikner (right)
By this stage, her son’s name was formally linked to the horrifying rampage and his pictures had been shared all over social media and the news.
‘No,’ she replied, shortly before deleting the post entirely.
Only months ago, Eriksen had celebrated her son’s 20th birthday with a post reflecting on her pregnancy journey, writing: ‘MY son turns 20 tomorrow.
‘The wonderful feeling when I held him in my arms, and he stopped crying right away after a couple other people held him briefly and he screamed his lungs out, but then he just stopped with me. I was so happy to meet MY little cutie.’
Eriksen had faced charges for removing a minor from the state amid her ongoing legal dispute with Ikner’s father. It is understood she fled the country and took her son to Norway, where they are both dual-citizens.
Lengthy court documents obtained by DailyMail.com suggest the incident was one of many bitter custody battles during Ikner’s youth.
In one instance, Eriksen was court ordered to no longer contact her son, her son’s father or his wife, sheriff’s deputy Jessica Ikner whose weapon was used in the deadly school attack.
She was ordered to have no contact with Ikner’s school, teachers, doctors, counselors or summer camp programs, and was told to begin restitution payments totaling $31,000.
+13
View gallery
Distraught students held a vigil near the scene of the shooting at Florida State University on Thursday night
Additionally, Eriksen was sentenced to 200 days in jail, including the 170 days she’d already served up until the court date.
Throughout the court documents, Ikner was referred to as ‘Christian Eriksen.’ It is understood he later changed his name.
His biological grandmother, Eriksen’s mom, once made an effort to reach out publicly, writing: ‘Christian, your Norwegian passport is easily replaced by your mother.
‘It is time for you to spend some time in Norway!! Grandma Susan in Tallahassee.’
Eriksen has repeatedly shared pictures relating to child parental alienation and expressed a desire to reconnect with her son prior to Thursday’s chilling events.
Two adult men were killed during Thursday’s rampage, and five other victims were injured by gunfire, authorities confirmed.
Another victim was injured trying to escape the shooting.
Chief Lawrence Revell of the Tallahassee Police Department said in an updated statement on Thursday night that Ikner ‘remains hospitalized with serious by non-life-threatening injuries.
‘What occurred today was a heinous and despicable act of violence,’ he said.
‘This remains an open and active investigation, and TPD is committed to bringing justice to the victims in this case.’
+13
View gallery
Students gathered to pay their respects to the two lives lost and six injured
Read More
EXCLUSIVE FSU gunman’s chilling family secrets explode as distraught biological mom makes bombshell claims
Horrifying reports have emerged that Ikner held ‘white supremacist’ values which saw him kicked out of at least one political club.
Speaking to NBC after the shooting, a student who was once part of a ‘political round table’ with Ikner revealed he harbored white supremacist views.
‘Basically our only rule was no Nazis — colloquially speaking — and he espoused so much white supremacist rhetoric and far right rhetoric as well,’ Reid Seybold said.
Seybold, who was president of the club, said he had to kick Ikner out of the group due to his beliefs and rhetoric.
And Riley Pusins, who is part of another political discourse club on campus that Ikner would attend, had a similar experience with the suspect.
Pusins said Ikner would attend meetings ‘almost every Thursday’ in which he would ‘go up to the line’ about what was acceptable discussions, but would often cross the line after the formal meeting ended.
The student said Ikner often advocated President Donald Trump’s agenda, promoted white supremacist values and made inappropriate comments, despite joining a nonpartisan group.
Pusins said others in the group would describe Ikner as a ‘fascist.’
+13
View gallery
One student prays with her hands clasped together as she paid respect to the victims of the tragic shooting
Ikner himself is a registered Republican voter who openly mocked students on campus protesting the result of the 2024 presidential election.
‘These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons,’ Ikner said in his school magazine, where he was described as a political science major.
‘I think it’s a little too late, he’s [Trump] already going to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 and there’s not really much you can do unless you outright revolt, and I don’t think anyone wants that.’
According to one Tallahassee local church, he was baptized in 2024.
Prior to the mass shooting, Ikner had updated his Instagram bio, sharing a haunting quote from book of Jeremiah in the Bible, which warned of an impending judgement day.
‘You are my war club, my weapons for battle, with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms,’ he wrote.
Extraordinary footage also emerged of Ikner stalking campus grounds as terrified students ran for their lives on Thursday.
The deafening sound of a gunshot rings out in the video as Ikner marches back and forth at Florida State University’s Tallahassee campus, shooting indiscriminately at his terrified classmates.
During the shooting and in the immediate aftermath, social media was flooded with sickening footage and images as panic set in, including one showing a victim being carried to safety on the shoulders of paramedics.
