Police told a press conference that the teenagers had concocted a scheme to track, lure and then attack alleged paedophiles, and then livestream the beatings. The incident was initially reported by media as having potentially been a homophobic attack, after other such attacks in Plovdiv in 2020, sparking outrage from LGBTQ+ rights groups. But the announcement at Thursday’s police press conference caused a U-turn in speculation around the case. Atanas Kalchev, mayor of Krichim, a small town near Plovdiv, said the victim was originally from Krichim. “Even if the initial theories [about a homophobic attack] don’t get confirmed, this doesn’t take away from the weight of the crime,” Kalchev added.