Police in the District of Columbia admitted Wednesday that there's been an uptick in hate crimes after releasing video of two gay men being attacked in the popular U Street neighborhood.
According to police, the men were subjected to anti-gay slurs by assailants in the attack that took place a few blocks away from the U Street Metro Station, LGBTQ Nation reported.
During a press conference about the Sunday attack, DC Police Chief Peter Newsham acknowledged that hate crimes have risen in the district, local news outlet WTOP reported Wednesday.
"There has been increases in hate crimes in the city from ’15 to ’16 and ’16 to ’17,” Newsham said. “It’s hard to say exactly what the increase is due to."
He told reporters that DC Police are offering a reward of $1,000 for information about the three men captured on video attacking the gay couple, who have since raised more than $12,000 via a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign since the weekend attack.
“For this particular case, we have information to suggest that some homophobic slurs were used during the course of the assault,” the police chief said. “If it is a hate crime, we’ll bring that charge once we bring the person into custody.”
