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Videos Show Echo Park Stabbings (And Possible Anti-Gay Hate Crimes)
The LAPD has released two security videos that show two men being stabbed in Echo Park last week, after they were called "faggots" and other homophobic slurs by their attacker.
The victims were stabbed as they were waiting for a bus at Echo Park Avenue and Montana Street just after midnight last Thursday morning, police told The Eastsider. (Eds note: Initially, police reported that the victims saw the suspects at Sunset Beer Co. but owner John Nugent said police followed up with him and said they don't believe the suspects were at his establishment that night. It's not clear if the suspects and victims had any contact prior to the incident caught on video below.) One of the men was stabbed in the belly button, while another was stabbed in the hip hard enough to fracture his pelvis, according to a friend of one of the victims blogging for "Your Friend, Savannah." The victims were also robbed, the blogger wrote.
The LAPD is investigating the stabbing as a possible hate crime. Although the victims are straight, they are gay allies who wear rainbow patches and stickers, according to "Your Friend, Savannah." In the description of the first video, the LAPD writes that the suspect yelled out to the victims "You guys are fucking faggots!" before he ran after the victims. Police are still looking for the suspect and the man and woman who were with him that night.
In this video, the suspect walks toward the camera with two associates and just out of sight before turning around and running after the victims:
In this second video taken from the opposite angle, you can see one of the victims going after the suspect and getting stabbed in his hip bone:
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