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Abbey Employee Says He Was Attacked In WeHo Because He's Gay
Chris de la Cruz (via Facebook)
A man was attacked in West Hollywood late Thursday night, and he says it's because he's gay. Chris de la Cruz posted his account of the incident in a post on Facebook (he also goes by Christopher Burton on Facebook), writing:
Tonight as I was headed to my car I was attacked and harassed. And my face a pushed to the ground and punched several times. They tried to put a knife against my face but was lucky enough to run and get away. Please watch out and always make sure you have someone with you at night. My cards were taken from me and I don't know who or where they went. Please share and help me find the a**holes who attacked me tonight in West Hollywood. #Help
According to Wehoville, de la Cruz works at The Abbey as the catering and events coordinator.
Sgt. Enrique Mandujan told Wehoville that an employee at the West Hollywood Sheriff's station saw the Facebook post and reached out to de la Cruz, who filed a report about the attack on Friday. According to Mandujan, the attack appears to have happened near Robertson Boulevard and Keith Avenue, not far from the busy intersection at Santa Monica and San Vicente.
ABC-7 reports that de la Cruz was attacked shortly after midnight. De la Cruz told KTLA that two men approached him as he was walking to his car and said "You better not scream." One of them was wearing a ski mask, and said, as de la Cruz was on the ground, "You fucking faggot." According to de la Cruz, they kept repeating it as they continued to punch him in the face.
After he handed them his credit cards, de la Cruz said "they ran off laughing like it was a joke."
"We come out here to have a good time because it's our 'safe zone'," de la Cruz continued. "I felt like I was just stripped and just made fun of for being me."
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