CLEVELAND, Ohio — Police in Cleveland, Ohio, have arrested a 13-year-old teen in connection with a second possible hate crime in less than a week at a local gay bar.
According to police, a group of juveniles was outside of Cocktails bar throwing rocks at customers and employees over the fence of the bar’s outside patio.
Police say a bartender was the initial target of the attack, as the group began yelling anti-gay slurs, reported the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.
Bar patrons chased the group away, but they returned a short time later with sticks and a broom, according to police, and again threatened the bartender with anti-gay slurs.
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“They started taunting us, yelling gay slurs and so on and so forth,” bar patron Ric Scardino told WJW-TV.
That’s when Scardino pulled out his mace.
“They thought this was a gun. They saw the black and they said the faggot’s got a gun and they took off running,” he said.
Police were able to locate one of the suspects nearby; the 13-year-old was identified by bar patrons as being involved in the attack.
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Fox was was left with bruises and a ruptured eardrum. Both incidents were captured by surveillance cameras.
Police could yet determine if the two incidents were related, or if the teen arrested was involved in the attack on Fox.
