Police arrest suspect in alleged anti-gay attack in Brooklyn
Police arrested 25-year-old Brandon McNamara on Wednesday for allegedly beating two gay men in Brooklyn early Sunday morning. The suspect faces 10 charges, among them several hate crimes.
McNamara was charged with 10 counts of assault and harassment for allegedly beating and hurling homophobic slurs at two men who had just left a popular gay bar, Metropolitan, in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood.
“The individual punched the 34-year-old in the face which caused him to lose consciousness,” NYPD Sergeant Jessica McRorie told NBC News via email on Monday, prior to McNamara’s arrest. “He then grabbed the 29-year-old and threw him against a tree; also rendering him unconscious.” McRorie said the younger victim was treated at a hospital for a broken finger, and the other was taken to a hospital with a fractured shoulder. The names of the two victims have not been released.
McNamara's employer, EY, where he is a senior consultant, according to his LinkedIn page, told NBC News he "has been suspended from the Firm pending the active investigation of this matter The alleged conduct is abhorrent to all EY stands for including our culture of diversity and inclusion," John La Place, an EY spokesperson, said in an email sent to NBC News.
According to the most recent FBI hate crimes data, 17 percent of hate crime victims in the U.S. in 2016 were targeted because of their sexual orientation, and most of those victims were gay men.
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/police-arrest-suspect-alleged-anti-gay-attack-brooklyn-n913471
