A gay man was beaten and robbed in an apparent hate crime Sunday night outside a bar in central El Paso. Emilio Moreno, 23, was leaving the Rumors bar when two attackers jumped him in an alley. Moreno’s brother, Gerardo Agguire, told KFOX Channel 14 that the suspects — who have not been caught — were hitting Moreno with rocks:
His brothers said the two men beat him up, took his wallet with six dollars in it, his class ring and even his jacket, before leaving him for dead.
“I believe it was ahate crime because they were beating him up and calling him homosexual slurs,” said Gerardo.
Neighbors who live next to the alley heard the commotion and called an ambulance. As of Tuesday night, Emilio is at UMC, being treated for various facial injuries including a broken nose.
“He said to me he wishes he would have died, and I asked him why, and he said so justice can be served and police would take it seriously,” said Gerardo.
The El Paso Times reports that police are treating the incident as a hate crime, because of the assailants’ use of anti-gay slurs. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call police at 915-832-4400 or Crime Stoppers of El Paso at 915-566-8477.
Last May, after a brutal hate crime outside another gay bar, LGBT advocates held a rally at the courthouse and said El Paso police hadn’t done enough to address violence in the area.
Fact: the police don’t care (unless you own a donut shop). You can’t take the law into your own hands, but you CAN take self-defense into your own hands. In this day and time, “Don’t leave home without it” refers not only to your American Express card, but also your concealed handgun.