The Associated Press reports that two brothers were beaten with an aluminum baseball bat in New York by four attackers. The two were walking arm in arm Sunday morning down a Brooklyn street. Police say one of the brothers (31-years-old) died Monday in a NYC hospital.
The assailants used anti-gay slurs and anti-Hispanic insults, city officials said at a news conference. “We believe all of this happened simply because of who these individuals are and who these perpetrators perceived them to be,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. “For some reason (they) didn’t like the two men they believed were gay … and felt so emboldened in their hatred that they acted it out in violence.”
According to Police, the attack occurred around 3:30 a.m. Sunday as the brothers were walking. One attacker jumped out of an SUV, used the anti-gay slur and smashed one of the brothers over the head with a bottle. The other brother ran away and three more attackers joined the assault. One hit the victim in the head with the bat while the others kicked him. At some point, the other brother returned holding a cell phone and told the men he had called police. They then drove off together.
The office of Brooklyn prosecutor Charles Hynes and the New York Police Department’s Hate Crime Task Force are investigating. Hynes “is shocked and appalled at this senseless, bigoted, brutal act,” said Assistant District Attorney Charles Guria. “We need people out there who have any piece of information to please come forward.”
How many more times does this have to happen before people realize they need to stop teaching hate? These two innocent people were just assumed to be gay and they were attacked and one of them died. There is no excuse for this, obviously. I have to think that if the lies and misconceptions about gay people were not taught, this might not have happened.
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