NYPD seeks teens in suspected homophobic hate crime

The NYPD is asking for the public’s help in locating a group of teenage boys they say attacked two gay men in a homophobic hate crime in Queens last month.

The two men were walking on Broadway near 33rd Street around 7:30 p.m. on February 8 when four teenagers started yelling anti-LGBTQ+ slurs and throwing hard objects at the couple, the New York Daily News reported.

Police say that one of the victims fell to the ground he was repeatedly punched in the face before the group fled the scene on foot.

The faces of two of the alleged attackers can be seen in the video and pictures released by the NYPD on Sunday. One is wearing a dark hoodie and has long dark hair while a second teen in a light-colored G.A.P. hoodie. Both teens can be seen using cell phones as they wander in and out of the video. A third individual with the group appears in the video, but his face cannot be seen in the short 13-second clip.

The Department of Justice reported a significant increase in hate crimes in the state of New York over the past few years. Bias and hate crimes based on the victim’s real or perceived sexual identity jumped from 40 and 15 reported incidents in 2020 and 2021, respectively, to 123 in 2022, according to the DOJ’s Hate Crime Fact Sheet. The NYPD Hate Crimes Dashboard provides more detailed information on bias and hate-motivated incidents in NYC.

Anyone with information about the attack or the suspects is encouraged to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. Tipsters can remain anonymous.