West Seattle resident, Timothy McClellan, the father of Shane, 16, who was beaten and tortured for four hours May 25 at 2:00 a.m. by two men at the top of the steps at 14th Avenue SW and Southwest Holden Street, told the West Seattle Herald that his son identified those he believed attacked him from a police photo line-up. He did so today, June 4.

On June 3, Timothy spoke to the West Seattle Herald to clarify the incident and feelings his family shares about the attack and its racial components. He asked that the "bloody nose photo" circulating not be used here, and provided a recent photo of Shane.

Timothy, 50, an unemployed union fire sprinkler fitter and stand-up comedian said that he, Shane, and Shane's mother, who he recently divorced, and who lives two blocks from him, characterize the national press attention brought on by Shane's attack as a "circus."

Much has been made on TV, radio, online, and in newspapers across the country about Shane's description to the police that one individual was African American and the other, Pacific Asian, and that the African American screamed racial remarks while beating him, repeating that he was being punished for being white. This hate-crime component has caught on with the press and public, and even two white supremacist websites have weighed in.

"Some people have said that if it was reversed, that if Shane was black and the attackers were white and beating him for being black, that people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would get involved," Timothy said. "We did not make race an issue. What happened was when Shane was at Harbor View (Hospital) the detective asked for a description of the attackers, what they looked like, did they have an accent, facial hair, and what they said to him. The detective was amazing, very thorough. So he told the detective that the black attacker removed (Shane's) belt while a gun was held against his head and asked him, 'What's a white boy doing out here at this time of night?' I guess they thought it's their territory at that time of night. He was in their territory and he was the wrong color. The black guy made stronger remarks, but I feel uncomfortable repeating exactly what the attacker said when the investigators and other reporters ask me about it."

Download the original police report here or at the link above.

Timothy said because his son had friends of all races he may have felt less threatened when the attackers first approached him.

"Shane got attacked while walking home from a birthday party where his best friend, Michael Jackson, lived. Michael is black. Shane was born here in this neighborhood and has a wide range of friends of different races. He didn't see warning signs, and wasn't scared when they asked him for a light."

The McClellans live east of 35th Avenue near Monroe. Jackson lives in Highland Park.

Timothy said that until some began to characterized Shane's attack as "reverse racism," he had never heard the term, and said the term sounds illogical.

"'Reverse racism' almost means like the opposite of racism," he said. "I didn't know about the hate groups online. Hate groups are probably jumping on the band wagon because it's fodder for them. That has nothing to so with us or with Shane.

At first we thought that speaking out about the crime would help find the attackers," said Timothy. "But now we can't wait 'till all the attention goes away. Shane wants to put it all behind him, and doesn't want to talk to anybody about it. He is healing well, but the cigarette burns on the back of his neck are still really bad."