BOSTON (WHDH) - Two Revere women are facing hate crime charges after allegedly assaulting a mother and her daughter for speaking Spanish near a subway station in Boston earlier this month, prosecutors announced Friday.
Jenny Leigh Ennamorati and Stephanie M. Armstrong, both 25, are slated to be arraigned in East Boston Court on March 9 on charges including two counts of assault and aggression and two counts of violating constitutional rights with bodily injuries, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
The charges stem from a brutal attack on a woman, identified only as 46-year-old Ms. Vasquez, and her 15-year-old daughter, near Maverick Square station in East Boston on Feb. 15.
Vasquez and her daughter were punched, kicked and bitten without provocation for laughing and speaking in Spanish, prosecutors said.
“There is no place for hatred or bigotry in Suffolk County. The sense of entitlement and privilege these defendants must have felt to utter these hateful and racist words, and then to physically attack a mother and her child for laughing and speaking Spanish is outrageous and reprehensible,” District Attorney Rachael Rollins said. “In Suffolk County, we respect and protect everyone, no matter the God you worship, who you love, how you identify, the language you speak, your immigration status, or your physical and mental abilities. Everyone is welcome here. Everyone is worthy of dignity and respect. Everyone deserves to feel safe.”
Ennamorati and Armstrong told police that they had been drinking and that they believed the two were making fun of them, prosecutors said.
Vasquez and her daughter sought medical treatment after the alleged attack.
The charges against the suspects come just days after lawyers for Civil Rights and other Boston-based groups asked police to pursue hate crime charges.
“I’m having nightmares. I’m afraid to take the train to work, and my family is afraid to speak Spanish in public,” Vasquez said in a statement provided by the Civil Rights organization. “My daughter is still wearing a neck brace, and she’s having trouble sleeping. We are all very shaken.”
Lawyers for Civil Rights also provided a video of the evening attack.
The video shows a woman crossing the street and shouting at another woman before throwing punches. The other woman punches back, and other people jump into the fray before Boston police arrive.
Civil rights groups said, “acts of racism and xenophobia” have become increasingly common in East Boston.
The incident remains under investigation.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)