Nine youths ranging in age from 12 to 19 have been arrested and are facing hate crime charges in the beating and robbing of an openly gay man in Massachusetts earlier this week.
The 30-year-old victim was attacked shortly after 3 a.m. on Tuesday in Springfield as he was walking home.
The victim and the people accused of attacking him all live in the same neighborhood.
While none of the suspects knew the victim by name, they were familiar with him from the neighborhood, police said.
The victim told police that a group of youths inside Barrows Park yelled and asked him to come inside the park, said Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet.
The victim kept walking and told police he was then attacked, knocked him to the ground, kicked him in the head and abdomen and punched him in the face with closed fists, Delaney said.
Some of the attackers reportedly yelled, “That’s what we do to faggots.”
Investigators determined that the attack, Delaney said.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Police charged Shay Andre Edwards, 19, and eight juveniles with unarmed robbery and a civil rights violation with injury.
The victim was treated for head trauma.
