Hate Crime: Gay Texas Man Punched, Stabbed With Bottle, Thrown Onto Fire
A gay Texas man was stabbed, beaten, and thrown on a burning fire at a party in Reno, Texas, by assailants he knew, because he was gay. 26-year old Burke Burnett, who required 30 stitches, says the four men yelled “pussy-ass faggot,†“gay bitch†and “cock-sucking punk,†knew him and that he was gay, and believes they were trying to kill him. The comment, “These faggots don’t deserve to be here. Somebody needs to get them out of there,” was also made at the party, though it’s unclear by whom. None of the 20 party-goers bothered to help Burnett as he was violently assaulted, though one drove him to the hospital after the crime.
The Dallas Voice first reported the story:
Jeff Sugg, interim chief of the Reno Police Department, released a statement Monday afternoon saying: “The Reno Police Department is currently investigating an aggravated assault that took place last weekend. The investigation is ongoing and additional information will be provided when available.â€
Reno police officials declined to further discuss their investigation.
Burnett said the officer investigating the case told him the attack will be classified as a hate crime. But Burnett said his attackers, whose identities are known, remain at large, and the officer told him it could be two weeks before they’re arrested.
“I’m scared for my life,†Burnett said, adding that he’s staying with a family friend. “I’m scared to go home. These guys have nothing to lose.â€
Burnett said he grew up in Paris and came out as gay when he was 15. He knows at least one of his attackers personally. Two of the suspects have been to prison and may be on parole, he said.
…
Burnett said he was sitting inside a large metal shed called “the party shop†when he was blindsided with a punch to his left eye. When he got up and tried to defend himself, one of his attackers stabbed him in the back with a broken beer bottle. Burnett called the stab wound “a kill shot†but said fortunately it didn’t puncture his lung.
One of the suspects stabbed him a second time in the right forearm — cutting into the muscle but missing an artery — before he was thrown onto a lit burn barrel.
Recently, a gay man in Scotland was murdered and found by the roadside, beaten to death and burned, and almost the same day, two men doused a former friend, a gay man, in Pennsylvania with alcohol and lit him on fire.
(Image: John Wright at The Dallas Voice.)
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