Homophobe attacks, chases after gay dads & daughter

Gay dads on an outing with their daughter were attacked and chased through downtown Albuquerque by a young man screaming homophobic slurs, as seen in a newly released police bodycam video.

Michael Drennan and his husband Matthew Kisner were visiting family in nearby Santa Fe and thought a trip on the New Mexico Rail Runner to Albuquerque would make for a fun Father’s Day celebration.

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Soon after disembarking from the train, the family was accosted by a young man screaming obscenities.

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“This homeless guy like, attacked us. He hit us with a pole. He’s following us. He’s aggressive. He’s cursing, he’s screaming. My daughter’s scared,” Kisner told Albuquerque police dispatch at the time. 

According to police, 26-year-old Jordan Salazar followed the couple from the train station and allegedly hit one of the men in the head with a metal broomstick.

He called the two gays dads accompanying their daughter “f**gots”.

“My husband — who’s on the phone talking to the police or the 911 dispatcher — is kind of relaying to them the things that he’s saying,” Drennan told KOB 4 News. “And at that point, my husband’s saying, you know, ‘He’s calling us f**gots,’ you know. He wants to try and figure out why two men are with my daughter.”

Salazar can be seen wielding the broom as officers arrive on the scene.

“Drop the broom now,” one officer yells at Salazar. “Drop it! Drop it!”

Officers cuffed and questioned the man, who appeared to be under mental duress or the influence of drugs. Based on the interaction, it’s clear this isn’t Salazar’s first run-in with police.

“Jordan, what’s going on bro?” one officer says to Salazar as he sits on the curb handcuffed.

“You know Jordan?” another officer asks. 

“Yeah, I 16’d him last week,” says the officer, using police code to describe a “pick up.”

The footage revealed police and the gay dads discussing the homophobic slurs Salazar used, and whether the man would be charged with a hate crime.

“I feel like if the definition of a hate crime was motivated by anti-gay bias, then yes, I feel like this was a hate crime,” Kisner tells the officers. 

The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office says the case against Salazar is on hold, pending a competency evaluation.