Three family members accused of assaulting a journalist who writes for a conservative organization in Minnesota face federal charges, after a judge unsealed an indictment that also lists additional state allegations for one defendant. The case centers on a protest tied to opposition to immigration enforcement activities, including federal officers’ use of a federal building in the Twin Cities area as a short-term holding site.
According to the indictment, Christopher and DeYanna Ostroushko and their daughter, Paige, were charged by a federal grand jury with one count of assault each. The document also says Christopher and Paige each committed one count of interfering with a federally protected activity, as prosecutors alleged the clash involved more than a street-level argument.
Prosecutors said Hernandez was assaulted in a confrontation that unfolded outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling, a location protesters have targeted in recent weeks. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has used the building as a short-term holding facility, and area out front has become a hub for anti-ICE activity, with protesters continuing to demonstrate against immigration enforcement operations following changes in the administration’s federal presence in the Twin Cities.
Video shared after the April 11 incident shows the encounter beginning with Paige Ostroushko blowing a whistle close to Hernandez’s face, according to the indictment’s description. Other angles, the indictment said, show Hernandez with a hand protecting her face and sometimes pushing back against Paige, before the two then tussle. Hernandez later told reporters in posts on X, according to the description, that her glasses were broken and that she was concussed with a sore neck and back, with scraped legs.
The indictment’s account describes separate confrontations after the initial tussle, with DeYanna and Christopher confronting Hernandez separately, and Paige confronting her again. It also says prosecutors believe officers on the scene faced attempts at de-escalation, with others around the confrontation trying to separate the parties as events unfolded.
In a statement cited in the reporting, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said Christopher Ostroushko “forcefully shoved the victim in the back, head first to the ground,” and it said there was insufficient evidence to bring state charges against the others involved. The county filing language was reported as part of the state case posture tied to the same April 11 incident.
The federal Justice Department said it would pursue cases it characterizes as violence motivated by politics. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that the department will “punish unhinged acts of political violence,” adding: “Hernandez was allegedly surrounded, physically assaulted, and shoved to the ground — simply because she was identified by the defendants as a conservative journalist. That is NOT ‘peaceful protest.’”
Attorneys for the Ostroushkos said they planned a vigorous defense. James Cook, an attorney representing the family, said the videos that have circulated did not show everything and that he believed the family would be able to provide a “vigorous defense,” while also saying the Ostroushkos had been regular protesters at the Whipple building to provide what Cook described as “a voice and a demonstration against Metro Surge.”
Cook also said the family had faced threats online and that DeYanna and Christopher had both lost their jobs. “They wish they could turn back the clock,” Cook said. “They wish that things didn’t turn out how they did.”
The Ostroushkos were summoned to appear before a federal judge on May 12. Hernandez, according to the reporting, did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent via email or direct message.