Adrian Lopez said a group of teenagers approached him and his friends and started asking about their tattoos, before assaulting them after they found out they were gay. (via Facebook)
Police are investigating a possible anti-gay hate crime that occurred at a popular lakeside park in Temple last week.
Adrian Lopez, 23, of Killeen, said he and two friends were visiting Temple Lake Park at Lake Belton on Wednesday when a group of teenagers assaulted them.
Lopez, who is gay, said the incident began at about sunset when a group of roughly seven teenagers, who appeared to be high school seniors, came over and struck up a conversation with him and his friends.
The teenagers were asking about their tattoos, before the conversation turned to religious beliefs and it came out that Lopez and his two friends were gay. Lopez said the teenagers started verbally “gay-bashing” them, saying things like “Y’all are going to hell” and “God doesn’t like gay people.”
Lopez and his friends got up to leave, but the group approached them again as they were walking toward their car. That’s when Lopez said one of the teenagers sucker-punched him from behind, briefly knocking him unconscious.
Lopez said he suffered a hole in his lip where his teeth cut through it, as well as multiple bruises. He was treated by paramedics at the scene, but he said one of his friends suffered more serious injuries, including a possible broken jaw, and had to go the hospital.
“I know this was an act of more than violence,” Lopez told Instant Tea on Friday. “I just feel that if they hadn’t found out that we were gay, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Sgt. Brad Hunt, a spokesman for the Temple Police Department, said in an email this morning that the incident is under investigation and is being treated as a class-A misdemeanor assault. Hunt said police were dispatched to a report of a fight at Temple Lake Park at about 8:15 p.m. on Wednesday.
“The victim and witnesses advise he was assaulted by a male suspect, because of the suspect’s perception of the victim’s sexual orientation,” Hunt said. “The suspect and his group had left in a vehicle prior to officers’ arrival, but were located and stopped a short time later. The identified suspect from that group is a juvenile, and his name will not be released. An offense report was generated on 6-1-11, by the responding officers, and the case is an active investigation. Classification as a ‘Hate Crime’ occurs at the prosecutorial level, as set forth in Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 2.211 (Hate Crime Reporting), and Art. 42.014 (Finding that Offense was Committed Because of Bias or Prejudice).”
Hunt said he could not release any additional information about the case and he didn’t respond to further questions.
“Possible” hate crime? If this isn’t a hate crime then what the heck is???
What’s sad is that this wasn’t reported at all in the local media. Gotta love central Texas.
There was a report in the Temple messenger, only they reported it as a simple fight between two men. It’s ridiculous and simply goes to show just how oppressive Christians are.
@Jiggy_Monkey… You can not just Christians as a whole. Not all Christians believe nor act as this group. It was an act of very mislead little boys.
I am a Christian and do not feel the same way as those mentioned in this article. I believe God loves all and you can not choose who you fall in love with.
jonesy- he knows that. we’re all just kind of pissed. adrian is our friend, whom we do see. we’re all in killeen and it sucks we all weren’t there.
I’ve forwarded the story to The Advocate.
Local jurisdictions must be sure that they follow all procedures and locals should be sure they keep this story in the forefront.
It truly saddens me that the hatred that so many people feel, “even today”, towards people who don’t act and believe as they do, is still so strong. I was born in the 60’s and have had to hide who I was inside all my life. I proudly served in the U.S. Army but had to hide even from my “friends” and “buddies”. We all are wounded a little inside every time this happens. Goddess watch over us all.
Hi the other guy who was also beaten badly is my beat friend Anthony Jackson. Me and my friends are arranging a gay pride day not next Sunday but the following at temple lake park where the hate crime took place. We are only trying to make a statement that we can be wherever we want and free to be ourselves. No violence. I am still in shock that this happened to someone so close to me and not to mention in 2011. Please keep spreading this message. Stop the hate!
This is just horrible. The intolerance of people like these teenagers is what is keeping people from being themselves. Fear and ignorance are the vehicles of violence and the only way for this to be stopped is with education and tolerance.
The fact that the police are putting quotations around “hate-crime” makes it seem as if we’re back in the 60’s and the polices are actively beating gays in the streets for kicks. I hope those boys get a stiff punishment for this. Maybe they’ll learn something, though I doubt it.
I hope the other young man that got hurt is alright.
My name is Drew Douglas. I work with channel 10 news in killeen, TX. I want to do a story about this, and Lauren, if you could please contact me, I would like to talk with you about the gay pride day at Temple Lake Park you are planning. This certainly is news worthy. Unfortunately we missed the story when it happened and wasn’t brought to our attention until today. We listen to police scanners all day to try to catch news worthy things, but if this was called out as a fight by police, which it apparently was, that explains why we missed it. We can’t respond to every call of a fight. If someone had said “hate crime” we would have rushed to the scene, I assure you. Thats the nature of our business.
By the way, I can be contacted at drew.douglas@kwtx.com
Lauren, I would like to speak with Adrian Lopez and Anthony Jackson. I’m Deborah McKeon, the person who first covered this story for the Temple Daily Telegram. I’m doing an article on hate crimes and would like to include this incident. I can be contacted by email at dmckeon@tdtnews.com.