Man shot outside gay bar for refusing to strip
A man was shot outside of a gay bar in Midtown Atlanta by a homophobic attacker for refusing to strip.
The victim was with a group of friends, who had met for a drink at the gay bar Bulldogs on Monday night.
The 47-year-old attacker approached them as they entered the bar, and continued lurk around them inside.
When they left, he followed, and began to shout homophobic abuse
“He started yelling obscenities, such as ‘Hey, which one is with who? I wanna have sex with one of you guys,” a witness told WSB-Atlanta.
He then screamed that he was homeless and that he wanted to know if one of us could give him some money,” the witness told WSB.
The victim offered the attacker $5, but that appeared to enrage him and he pulled out a gun.
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Three of the group fled, and the attacker ordered the remaining two to strip off their clothes.
“I was begging for him not to shoot,” the witness said.
When one of the men tried to flee, the attacker shot him twice in the back.
Yesterday, the police arrested Elijah Payton on suspicion of the attack. He is also a suspect in another Atlanta shooting that took place in September.
Payton is in jail charged with both counts of aggravated assault as well as possession of a firearm.
The victim is currently hospitalised in serious condition, his friends saying he is on a breathing tube and had to have part of his kidney removed.
The incident comes just two months after Atlantan TeeTee Dangerfield was shot and killed, making her the 16th transgender person murdered in the US this year.
Less than three weeks ago, the body of Ally Steinfeld, the 21st trans person murdered in the US this year, was found, burned and mutilated.
