El Paso police say they’ve been unable to determine whether a brutal beating outside a gay nightclub early Saturday was a hate crime because the victim remains unconscious. Detective Mike Baranyay, a spokesman for the police department, told Instant Tea that the 22-year-old victim suffered a serious head injury in the attack. The victim was punched, kicked and hit with a baseball bat by six attackers outside the Old Plantation nightclub, where he’d been waiting for a ride.
“He’s got pretty critical injuries,” Baranyay said this afternoon. “At this point we can’t confirm that it’s a hate crime or it’s not. Hopefully by tomorrow we’ll have some idea.”
Although police say don’t know whether the attack was a hate crime, the victim’s sister told KTSM-TV that even though her brother is not gay, she believes it was:
We spoke with the victim’s sister, Deanne Martinez, this morning at UMC where her brother is still listed in critical condition.
Martinez was there Saturday night and witnessed the attack. “He was on the floor laying there knocked out and they still kept bashing his head with a bat. That to me is so cowardly.”
Martinez says she and another family member tried to stop the attack but the men turned on them. “I was trying to pull out my brother and she was pushing off the guys. They ended up bashing her Jeep Liberty.”
So far police say they have no evidence to call the attack a hate crime. Martinez calls that ridiculous.
She says her brother isn’t gay but he was alone outside of a gay club and the men who attacked him made it clear why they picked him.
Martinez said, “They were yelling gay slurs and yelling their gang name or where they’re from.”
Martinez also told us this isn’t the first time she’s heard of that same group of men harassing people in the area.
She hopes someone comes forward with information about who these guys are. “I want these guys to be caught. Because this was a brutal and heartless crime.”
Baranyay told Instant Tea there had been no arrests in the case as of this afternoon. He also said he doesn’t believe anti-gay violence is a problem in El Paso.
“We’re a very tolerant community,” he said. “People pretty much leave each other alone in this town.”
Ive been there plenty and many people that are gay friendly go there.. Though i have to say growing up in El Paso it is not so a friendly city as it once was. People will put a front up but if you are on their bad side and this is just by being a certain way, you will find trouble. Miss it there but its time to come with the times…… Hope youre ok dude.
I hope your brother is ok. I will pray for him. Unfortunately, there is still hate in the Gay community. I hope they catch the guys that did this Cowardly Act. Please let me know how he is doing.
fthis is very obviously a hate crime.. i was there and those same guys were yelling homophobic slurs at ppl going into the OP, they even tried starting stuff with me and my friends. EPPD are just ignorant bastards, they downgrade every crime to make it seem like El Paso is such a safe city, that’s why they don’t want to call this a hate crime. when me and my friend were telling the cops on the scene about this being a hate crime becuase the guys were yelling gay slurs at ppl earlier in the night, the cop, literally walked away. if that doesnt show you how little the gay community means to these “macho” cops, then i dont know what does.