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Red line terminal transit stop in Mattapan, Boston
The attack has not been charged as a hate crime, despite the couple's account that they were targeted because they are gay.
Police in Boston, Massachusetts have arrested and charged five men in relation to a violent attack against a gay couple in the city's Mattapan neighborhood last month.
Patrick Fanfan, 53, Maurice Payne, 37, and Woopenson Morisset, 30, have all been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, the Boston Police Department said in a statement Wednesday. Gardy Exantus, 33, has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery. Franklin Francois, 51, has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
The department said that "civil rights violation charges are not sought at this time," meaning the attack has not been charged as a hate crime, despite the couple's account that they were targeted because they are gay.
The two victims, whose names have not been released, were walking toward a convenience store at about 7:45 p.m. on Sept. 13 when a group of men started shouting homophobic slurs at them. Someone in the group swung an unidentifiable object at the victims, which police believe was a baseball bat, striking one of the men in the back of the head and causing him to bleed.
Law enforcement found the victim lying in the parking lot and rushed him to Beth Israel Hospital. No information has been made available on his or his partner's condition since.
Related: FBI report: Despite overall crime drop, anti-LGBTQ+ violence remains alarmingly high
Josh Rovenger, legal director at Boston-based LGBTQ+ rights nonprofit GLAD Law, told local TV station WBZ after the incident that "many folks in our community are fearful of escalating violence."
“It just, to us, reflects the kind of deeply concerning environment that we’re in right now. And the escalating fear of violence," Rovenger said. “If you look at the data trends from 2023 and 2024 through 2025, we’ve just seen an increase in violent attacks against the LGBTQ community."
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