The FBI has joined Chicago police in investigating an August assault at the CTA Red Line Argyle station that authorities now are classifying as a hate crime, officials said.

       The FBI’s Chicago field office and the Chicago Police Department are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the unknown individual responsible for a violent assault at the CTA's Argyle Red Line station on Aug. 15, 2021. (Chicago Police Department)

       They are seeking the public’s help in identifying the assailant, whose image was captured on surveillance cameras. Authorities described him as a Black man, approximately 25 to 30, with black hair and brown eyes and “thin goatee facial hair.” He was last seen wearing a navy polo shirt, black jeans, a white Chicago White Sox hat with a red brim, a diamond stud in his right ear, a silver watch on his left wrist, a metallic bracelet on his right arm and a gold chain necklace.

       Chicago police previously issued a community alert about the attack, which happened around 1:20 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Argyle station, 1118 W. Argyle St., in Uptown. Siobhan Johnson, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Chicago field office, said the victim, a 30-year-old Asian man, entered the station and was followed by a man he didn’t know. According to police, the stranger came up behind the victim and “without provocation” hit him in the back of his head, causing him to fall.

       The FBI announced its involvement this week because the assailant “advised that the victim deserved the assault and used an ethnic slur against the victim and the victim’s partner,” which prompted investigators to treat it as a hate crime.

       Johnson said Wednesday she did not have additional details about the man’s injuries.

       Anyone with information as to the man’s identity or whereabouts is asked to contact the FBI at 312-421-6700. Tips may also be submitted online at tips.fbi.gov; all tips may be submitted anonymously.

       kdouglas@chicagotribune.com

       Twitter @312BreakingNews

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