Iraq War Veteran Mugged And Sent To Hospital By Gang Invoking ‘Black Lives Matter’
Iraq war veteran Chris Marquez was knocked unconscious and robbed by “Black Lives Matter” advocates outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Washington, D.C. The Bronze Star recipient, who helped rescue a fellow Marine during the Battle of Fallujah, inspiring the “No Man Left Behind” memorials at Camp Lejeune and Camp Pendleton, decried the attack by those he’d served to protect.
Treated at George Washington Hospital for head trauma and an eye contusion, the Iraq war veteran had lost $400, a VA medical card, three credit cards, and other belongings. According to the Marine Corps Times, Marquez recalls being approached at the McDonald’s in Washington’s Chinatown neighborhood by five people, between 16- and 21-years-old, mostly men or boys, and one possibly female.
“The kids were asking me if I think that black lives mattered. I was ignoring them, just because I felt intimidated. I felt how they approached me, it was very hostile. I felt they were really trying to intimidate me and just trying to start a confrontation with me.”
According to New York Daily News, the Iraq war veteran felt threatened while inside the restaurant and figured his accosters were trying to intimidate him, so he continued to eat his food, hoping they would leave him alone. Marquez claims his memories of what happened next are a blur because of his head injury. But the restaurant’s manager, DeAnthony Mason, later informed Marquez of a security camera footage showing one of the people hitting him in the back of the head with an unknown object as he left the restaurant.
“As soon as I walked out of the McDonald’s I got hit in the back of the head, or the side of the head. I just dropped to the ground, and he says I looked unconscious.”
While the Iraq war veteran was out cold, the Marine Corps Times reported, the self-styled “Black Lives Matter” supporters took everything in his pockets, even tearing off the back of his pants to steal his wallet. More than $115 in charges were made on his USAA debit card, Marquez later found.
Bewildered by his victimization in a racist attack, Marquez recalls how he served with people from many different races when he was in the Marine Corps assigned to Iraq. Like all Marines, the war veteran remembers fighting for the freedom of all Americans and not just one particular group.
Marquez’s service record spans eight years on active duty between 2003 and 2011, including deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. It was the war veteran’s bravery during the Battle of Fallujah that was immortalized in the “No Man Left Behind” statues at Camp Pendleton, California, and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
“No Man Left Behind” first unveiled in November, 2015, was sculpted by Wyoming artist and Vietnam War veteran John Phelps, immortalizing Marquez and his comrades.
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