PARIS, Tenn — The owner of a health food store in Tennessee was beaten unconscious Wednesday evening by three men who used anti-gay slurs before robbing him and writing “fag” across his forehead.
The victim, who owns the Healthy Thyme store in Paris, Tenn., about 90 miles northwest of Nashville, said a man had come into the building through the employee entrance asking for something to help his daughter, who was sick.
The store owner suggested a product and had reached down to get it when the man began beating him, the report indicated.
The report indicated two other men, both wearing ski masks and black jackets, joined the first man in hitting the victim, reported the Paris Post-Intelligencer.
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The victim told officers he was hit until he lost consciousness, and when he woke up, he said that he saw the men pouring gasoline near the front of the building.
He said his attackers got away with $1,200 and caused about $5,500 in damage.
The store owner told police that a man had come to the business earlier that day and asked him about his sexual “preference.”
He said the man told him he could not shop at the store if he was homosexual.
Watch a report from WBBJ-TV: