NYPD: Man Yelling Anti-Gay Slurs Slashes Man In Face At Bed-Stuy Restaurant, Stabs Another Outside
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are searching for a suspect who they said slashed and stabbed two people while uttering anti-gay slurs in Brooklyn.
Around 5 a.m. Sunday morning, police said two men left Langston's, a gay bar, and stopped for a bite to eat at Crown Fried Chicken on Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, CBS2's Raegan Medgie reported.
Police said unprovoked, the suspect made anti-gay remarks, said "I'm going to shoot this place up" and then took out a sharp object and slashed a 34-year-old man on the side of his face.
The suspect then went outside and stabbed a 24-year-old man twice in the torso and slashed him on the shoulder while again making anti-gay slurs, police said.
Both victims were taken to the hospital where they were treated for their injuries and released.
"After all I've been through...I just sit back and thank God I'm alive ... Always remember God had plan ... He's kept me and I'm grateful..." Wali Bennett, one of the victims, wrote on Facebook after the attack.
Mohammed Chowdery was working alone behind the counter that morning.
"Five to six, that time is very busy, a lot of people there," Chowdery said, adding that it's not unusual to hear a commotion before the restaurant closes in the morning on weekends.
One Brooklyn resident called the incident "heinous."
"If this has something to do with the LGBT community, it's just heinous," Tyerell Hamlin, of East New York, said. "It shouldn't happen to anybody, nobody should have to go through that."
Police have released surveillance video of the suspect, who they describe as a black man between the ages of 20 and 26 and around 150 pounds.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
