Two cisgender males have been charged with hate crimes for making anti-gay comments to a 19-year-old lesbian, Kady Grass, before brutally attacking her in a Carpentersville, Illinois, McDonald’s fast-food restaurant on May 13.

The 19-year-old attacker, John Z. Kammrad, now faces five felony charges, including three for aggravated battery (and one of those for inflicting great bodily harm), one for mob action, and one for a hate crime. His accomplice, an unnamed 16-year-old, also faces the same charges.

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The two attackers reportedly called Grass a “fa**ot” outside of a restaurant bathroom before hitting her on her jaw and the back of her head. Kammrad then held her down while the 16-year-old kicked and stomped on her head as her 13-year-old cousin watched in horror, and a restaurant manager tried to stop the attack. The assault, captured on surveillance video, broke Grass’ nose, caused a hemorrhage in one eye, and left her with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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“They attacked me because I like women,” Grass told WLS. “All I did was exist that day. I went to go spend time with my family, and then, I was brutally attacked. There was nothing I did to deserve that.”

“I genuinely think that their plan was to kill me, and that they didn’t care if they ended my life that day,” she told CBS News.

Grass said the hate crime charges brought her and her family a sense of relief and justice, seeing as they targeted her for her sexual orientation.

“These allegations are serious and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie L. Mosser wrote in a public Facebook post. “Everyone deserves to feel safe in public spaces, and no one should be attacked because of their gender identity or sexual orientation, as is alleged in this case.”

Grass told LGBTQ Nation that she doesn’t want to be seen as a weak, scared victim, but rather as a strong survivor who stood up for herself.

“This should have never happened… but I don’t want people to be scared to stand up for themselves because they think that someone will hurt them,” she told LGBTQ Nation. “I want to be seen as someone that is strong because they tried to ruin my life, but instead, they ruined their own.”

A GoFundMe crowd-fundraiser has since been launched to help with her medical bills and to afford a lawyer to press charges. It has raised $75,775 of its $5,000 goal as of Thursday afternoon.

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