Three individuals threw cans of food and hurled anti-LGBTQ slurs at a 17-year-old individual in a violent attack at a Bronx playground on December 12, according to the NYPD.
“Hey faggot, take off your fucking wig,” the alleged assailants said, a police spokesperson told Gay City News. “You faggots don’t belong on this block.”
Authorities said the attack unfolded at 9 p.m. on the mid-December Saturday evening at Melrose Playground, which is adjacent to a residential building at 681 Courtlandt Avenue in the Bronx.
The 17-year-old victim suffered a torn ligament in their knee as a result of the attack, according to authorities. Even after the initial incident, the alleged assailants continued to call the teen a “faggot,” cops said.
Police are investigating the case as a hate crime assault, but an NYPD spokesperson told Gay City News that no suspects have been identified or arrested as of December 24.
One of the three unidentified individuals accused of carrying out the attack was last seen wearing a red sweatshirt, while the other two were donning black sweatshirts.
The incident occurred just weeks after another teen — a 19-year-old — was exiting an MTA bus in Chelsea when a man allegedly punched him and said, “I hate gay people,” according to the New York Post.
The victim in that case suffered bruising and pain, but refused any medical attention at the scene. Police have yet to identify the attacker in that case.
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