Police arrest potential suspects after string of horrific homophobic attacks
Two men have been arrested in Dallas – after a number of attacks on gay men left the city’s LGBT community terrified.
There have been a number of attacks on gay men in the Oak Lawn neighbourhood of Dallas in recent months, including baseball bat-wielding assailants targeting a man at a Pride parade in September. Some of the incidents are being investigated as hate crimes.
Geoffrey Hubbard, a bartender at Cedar Springs Tap House, was left with a fractured skull after he was attacked last month.
After warnings from LGBT groups, the police stepped up patrols and put the neighbourhood on “lock-down”.
Deon Fridia and Donedwin Maxie, both 18-year-old black males, were arrested early Sunday after a robbery – and police are now investigating whether they are tied to the wave of attacks.
Police spokesman Max Geron said: “As a a matter of course, we will be investigating as to whether or not we are able to tie these suspects to any additional offences in the Oak Lawn area.
“There are seven offences of the 12 robbery-related offences that have been committed in the Oak Lawn area recently that involve at least one black male suspect.
“There’s nothing definitive at this point to be able to say that one or more of these suspects is responsible for those offences.”
Mugshots have not yet been released.
Bar owner Lee Daugherty told CBS: “The amount of frustration that the community has felt for several months now maybe gets eased just a little bit.
“The threats are not gone. They are still out on the streets. They are still looking. They are still targeting this community.”
