Antigay Attack on UNC Student Investigated

Quinn Matney, a freshman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, may have sustained permanent nerve and tendon damage from burns suffered in an antigay attack on campus last week.

NBC 17 reports on the attack, which occurred April 4 around 3 a.m. at the Craige footbridge near Matney's dorm. He does not know the male attacker.

"Someone ended up reaching over and grabbing my wrist and pressed a scaling hot piece of metal on it. He said here's a taste of hell, you [expletive] fag!'' he said.

Matney received third- and fourth-degree burns through his muscle into the tendon, along with possible nerve damage. He also acquired an infection from the wound that spread into his bloodstream.

Campus police are investigating the attack as a hate crime and have reported the incident to federal officials, but LGBT students and staff want to know why it took a week to report the incident.

According to 1360 WCHL, Chancellor Holden Thorp notified the campus about the attack by e-mail on Monday, a full week after the incident. The chancellor has said he would review the protocols for notifying students about dangers.