Two Atlanta high school students say they were assaulted for being gay.
Timothy Jefferson, 16, told the Georgia Voice that he and another gay teen at Carver School of the Arts have been the repeated target of attacks from fellow students since coming out two years ago.
Dozens of teens and young adults assaulted Jefferson and his friend Zyderryo Brown, 17, after school Monday, Jefferson said, including one who attacked him with a screwdriver.
"We got into a fight because they don't like us because we are gay," he said. "During the whole fight I was saying, God, please don't let me die. The screwdriver could have hit me anywhere."
"My face is messed up some," he told Atlanta TV station WXIA, adding that he and his friend were outnumbered by the gang of 30 people.
He also said the group shouted slurs like "gay ass n-----" and threatened to "beat your faggot ass."
The gay teens have been assaulted 10 times since the beginning of year, said Jefferson's mother, Sabrina Giles. And they claim school officials have been unresponsive, despite an advanced warning of the planned attack.
"The police wasn't there. Nobody was there. No administrators came outside or nothing," Jefferson said.
Jefferson has identified the young man who attacked him with a screwdriver, but the Atlanta Police Department has not made any arrests. An police department statement released Wednesday said the incident involved four students, not 30. They do not classify it as a hate crime.
"The subsequent investigation of a fight on the New Schools of Carver campus on April 20, 2015 has revealed that the incident involved four people," police spokeswoman Elizabeth Espy said in the statement. "These students were involved in a fight with each other with approximately 100 students watching the incident. This altercation will NOT be classified as a hate crime because it does not meet the requirements of such. Three of the 4 students are juveniles. The juveniles will be charged with the State charge of Affray. The 4th student Zy'Derryo Brown DOB 10/12/1997 will be given a copy of charges for disorderly conduct."
Watch a video report below.