The Cincinnati mass brawl that shocked the nation just got even more personal — one of the victims is a single working mother who was simply out celebrating a friend’s birthday when she was brutally attacked.
The woman, identified only as Holly, was viciously sucker-punched and left unconscious as a mob swarmed her and another man during the Friday night melee at Fourth and Elm Streets. The details of her story were shared by former presidential candidate and Ohio gubernatorial hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, who said he spoke with her personally.
“She’s a single working mom who went to a friend’s birthday party,” Ramaswamy wrote on X. “It’s unconscionable that there were no police present in that area of Cincinnati on a Friday night, or even an ambulance to take her to the hospital.”
Ramaswamy promised that if elected governor in 2026, his administration would take a no-nonsense approach to cracking down on the kind of lawlessness that left Holly bloodied in the street. “Leftists like to lecture about ‘systemic injustice’ while thugs turn our cities into war zones. I’m done with their excuses,” he said.
Vice President JD Vance also weighed in, calling the attack “disgusting” and specifically condemning the grown man who sucker-punched Holly.
“That person ought to go to jail for a very long time — and frankly, he’s lucky there weren’t some better people around because they would’ve handled it themselves,” Vance said. “We have got to make great American cities safe again for families and children… take the thugs who engage in that violence and throw their asses in prison.”
Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge announced Monday that five people have been charged in connection with the brawl and that more charges are coming. She did not detail the specific charges but confirmed the victims suffered “pretty serious injuries.” Fraternal Order of Police President Ken Kober slammed not only the attackers but also the bystanders who filmed the assault instead of calling 911 or stepping in to help.
The viral footage is hard to watch: a man in a white t-shirt thrown to the ground and beaten by multiple attackers, stomped on as he lay motionless. When a woman — Holly — tried to help him, she was struck twice in the face, collapsing to the pavement as blood poured from her mouth.
Even Elon Musk joined the fray, publicly questioning why major media outlets hadn’t covered the story sooner. “Why zero stories?” Musk posted on X, highlighting the initial lack of national reporting before outlets like Fox News and the Daily Mail picked it up.
