The TRUE story of the "Yorkville Hatchet Man" ...

Brad Kohler is not only a good friend and neighbor, he's one of the best people I know. He goes out of his way to help everyone around him; without being asked and without expecting or accepting anything in return. He's just a genuinely good and kind person that sincerely wants to help others.

Sadly, on March 28th 2025, his kindness was repaid with with pure hate and aggression, leaving Brad and his family with lasting physical, emotional, and financial scars. I'm hoping this gofundme can help alleviate the undue financial burden so they can focus on trying to heal from the trauma they've all endured. The details of this true miscarriage of justice are below:

Brad and his family were leaving a hockey game at the local auditorium. While walking toward their car to head home, they were met with an oncoming vehicle that was trying to drive through the crowd and yelling obscenities at those in their way, rather than waiting for pedestrians to cross the lot safely. This vehicle came frighteningly close to Brad's wife and young daughter, so Brad tapped on the rear passenger's window and asked them to please be careful. This wasn't an act of aggression. He wasn’t rude, though he'd have had a right to be. He just wanted to alert the driver that they were getting closer to people than they might think. With his family safe and the driver aware, Brad and his family continued to walk to their car thinking the incident was behind them. Sadly, it was not.

The driver stopped his vehicle and he and his 3 adult sons jumped Brad from behind, without any warning, forcing him to the ground, and began beating, kicking, and stomping on him as his family watched in terror. These thugs threatened Brad's wife, Kellie, as she tried to shield their kids from the nightmare, and when Brad's elderly father tried to intervene he too was thrown to the ground.

Thankfully, the assault came to and end as good samaritans gathered and tried to try to assist, but to add insult to very serious injury, the youngest attacker reached down and ripped the gold cross from Brad's neck before they fled the scene.

Confused and in agony, Brad managed to get up, ensure his family was ok, and talk to bystanders to try to make sense of what had just happened. A good samaritan had managed to get a picture of the assailants' license plates and gave that info to the police and Brad. They were from out of state. Immediately Brad's thoughts went from his pain and well being to the cross they'd ripped from his neck. The cross had been his late mother's and the thought of losing it forever, which was almost certain if they left the state, was too much to bear. Brad got his family home safely and decided to try to locate the vehicle, hoping they'd be staying at a hotel, in an effort to recover at least the material item they'd stolen from him.

Unbelievably, he managed to find the vehicle the next morning. He pulled his car in behind it, blocking it in the space so these criminals couldn't flee again, called 911, and stayed in his car hoping the police would arrive soon. The men soon left their hotel room, saw Brad and again started yelling obscenities. Terrified and, again, in a 4 against one situation, Brad rolled down his passenger side window and yelled that he just wanted his cross back. Surprisingly, the youngest son actually walked over and put the cross in his hand, but almost immediately, the others began approaching and threatening him. With the police still not on scene, Brad advised 911 of what was happening. Scared for his life, he rolled up his windows, locked his doors, grabbed the only item in his vehicle that may have helped him if an another alteration were to take place, a sheathed camping ax, and briefly held it up, hoping it was enough to deter his assailants. At that time, the police arrived. Brad thought this nightmare was finally over, but, sadly, it'd just begun.

The criminals played victim. They told the police Brad had been threatening them with a hatchet and that they wanted to press charges against him! Incredulously, the officers had Brad exit his vehicle, secure the ax in his trunk, and questioned him as if he was the criminal!

The pure adrenaline that had fueled him and allowed him to function long enough to recover his mother's cross was now gone. That, and being forced to get out of his vehicle, caused the excruciating pain he'd somehow managed to ignore, to flood over him. Brad tried to explain this to the officers, even telling them he felt he needed an ambulance, but he was ignored. He was told he'd likely be facing charges and allowed to leave until that time since they had all his information. He left, in total disbelief, and drove himself to the hospital.

At the hospital the severity of Brad's injuries became all too clear. He had a collapsed lung and needed a chest tube to relieve the pressure internal bleeding was causing in his chest. He needed emergency surgery to locate the source of the internal bleeding and try to save his life. During that hours long surgery, they found he had 5 broken ribs, so severely damaged, they needed to stabilize his ribcage with a metal plate. Thankfully, he'd survived the brutal, unprovoked attack, but he was now left with lifelong pain and scars - his body and mind changed forever by the ordeal.

His family, and the pastimes they'd always enjoyed together, forever scarred by the memory of what happened.

You'd think this was the end of the story, that Brad was now safe and the Kohlers were trying to heal as a family, but, unfortunately, this isn't the end.

When Brad was finally released from the hospital, he wasn't welcomed with news that the men who'd almost taken his life were in prison. Instead, HE was arrested for confronting, and supposedly threatening them!

HE was treated like a criminal!

He had to spend $5000 to retain an attorney to try to prove his innocence, despite the fact that the police had statements from others detailing the vicious attack he'd endured. Despite the fact that he'd stayed in his vehicle, had called 911 himself asking for police assistance, and stayed on the line with him the entire time he was at the hotel.

He'd almost lost his life, had done NOTHING wrong, yet was now facing felony charges! Even more disturbing, the 4 men who'd nearly killed him, were NOT in jail. In fact, they were ticketed for harassment, had to pay a $150 fine each, and were back in their home state unscathed by the mess they'd made here!

While home, trying to recover, Brad managed to get through Easter with his family, but the day after he was rushed back to the hospital. At that time, if was determined the wound is his chest wall had become infected, so much so, he was facing sepsis & pneumonia! He was put on a ventilator, had to endure another surgery to remove infected /dead tissue, & his family was told he was stable, but there was no guarantee he'd pull through.

After several days, miraculously, he was able to come off the vent & the infection seemed to be clearing. He was left with a huge hole in his side that could not be surgically closed due to the infection risk, & instead, a woundvac was placed.

After a few days, Brad was strong enough to leave the hospital but was told he could only do so with a portal woundvac in place, which would require at home nursing visits to maintain. He didn't want to miss any more time with his family, so he agreed.

When setting up those home visits he faced another obstacle, the one sided, incomplete news reports of the incident, which had incorrectly portrayed him as a crazy aggressor, had home health workers afraid to treat him! He & his family has to relive it all, again, to explain that their home was a safe place & Brad is a good man who was victimized once by his assailants, & again by the media.

It's been months now, yet his life is still not his own. He & his family are still healing, physically & mentally from what was supposed to be a fun family outing.

Brad endured an unprovoked, brutal and almost fatal beating. He was robbed. His family was pushed around and threatened. He'll battle lifelong physical pain, and battle ptsd that has ruined future family outings and causes extreme anxiety when leaving the house. On top of that, the press, rather than researching what happened, labeled him a criminal, posted his mugshot all over the news and social media, and made him out to be some crazy aggressor, rather than a kind, generous, family man that's lucky to have survived.

He's lost his health. He's lost time with his family. He's lost time and income from work. He's lost his sense of security.  He's lost thousands of dollars. He's lost his reputation. He's lost faith in our legal system; and who could blame him?

I'm hoping this gofundme will help alleviate some of the financial burden Brad and his family are facing, and, maybe, if enough people read and share it, the WHOLE story will go viral and negate the unwarranted negative image forced on him by the media.

So, even if you can't donate, please share! Brad and his family are amazing people and didn't deserve any of this, please help get the truth out there!