close
close

Pizzeria worker hospitalized after homophobic mob attacks restaurant over pride flag

Posted on by angelo
Pizzeria worker hospitalized after homophobic mob attacks restaurant over pride flag

Buffalo, New York, USA - September 2, 2019: A Blaze Pizza restaurant in Buffalo, New York, United States. Blaze Pizza LLC is a Pasadena, California-based chain in the fast-casual restaurant category.Buffalo, New York, USA - September 2, 2019: A Blaze Pizza restaurant in Buffalo, New York, United States. Blaze Pizza LLC is a Pasadena, California-based chain in the fast-casual restaurant category.

A Blaze Pizza restaurant in Buffalo, New York. Blaze Pizza LLC is a fast-casual restaurant chain based in Pasadena, California. Photo: Shutterstock

Police in Roseville, California, continue to search for three hate crime suspects who allegedly assaulted workers at a Blaze Pizza restaurant after one of the suspects ripped down a pride flag on display. Video of the attack was captured by a smartphone camera.

The incident occurred when a food delivery driver entered the restaurant at 10:50 p.m. on a Thursday, saw the flag displayed near the cash register, grabbed it and threw it to the ground. When the store manager and employees confronted the man, he allegedly made homophobic slurs and then left. He then returned with two other men who then began to fight against the restaurant employees.

Related:

A witness named Chance Chacon told KCRA that the manager and employee defended the flag display, but when the three attackers returned, “it was like a mob.” They were just swinging at him.

“I was also a little scared,” Chacon told KYMA, “because you never know if someone has a gun or if someone has weapons or anything.”

Video of the incident taken from inside the restaurant shows an employee repeatedly telling the attackers: “Get out of here!” ” while another told a colleague: “Call the cops.”

The three men fled before the police arrived. However, an ambulance later came to take one of the employees away on a stretcher. The employee was transported to the hospital and briefly hospitalized with a concussion and head trauma. The employee has since been released.

A still image from video footage shows a shoeless, light-skinned suspect wearing a dark-colored torn T-shirt and hand wraps, sometimes worn during mixed martial arts fights.

Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying the attackers involved in the September 20 incident. Anyone with information can submit an anonymous tip online or contact its non-emergency line at 916-774-5000.

Ruby Shields, a lesbian who owns a restaurant in nearby Granite Bay, said: The Sacramento Bee that she does not consider the area LGBTQ+ friendly. She was too scared to fly a rainbow flag in her own restaurant and is often mistaken for her business partner’s wife, even though she has a wife.

“We were looked at with respect, but you always have in the back of your mind, ‘Should I say this?'” Shields said, unsure whether to address the restaurant’s patrons. “It’s not even something I really want to post because you never know. I mean, it’s horrible that it’s so close to home. Roseville is just down the street from where we are located.

This would not be the first time that an anti-LGBTQ+ person has committed violence in California after tearing down a pride flag. Last August, Travis Ikeguchi – a 27-year-old man who posted anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Semitic and anti-vaccination Christian nationalist content online – murdered Laura Ann Carleton, a 66-year-old LGBTQ+ ally and mother of nine, s is the complaint about the Pride Flag hanging outside his business in Cedar Glen, California.

Police killed Ikeguchi shortly afterward.

Paul Feig — the director of Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters (2016) and other films – wrote: “We are all devastated for her husband Bort, her family and the LGBTQ+ community, for whom Lauri was a true ally…. This intolerance must end. Anyone who uses hateful language against the LGBTQ+ community needs to realize that their words matter, that their words can inspire violence against innocent, loving people. Let us all continue to move forward with tolerance and love. Let’s not let Lauri’s tragic death be in vain.”

Carleton’s friend, director Paul Feig, wrote about the incident“Lauri Carleton was my friend. She was a wonderful person who did so much for the LGBTQ+ community as well as the community as a whole. What happened to him is a real tragedy. If people don’t think anti-gay and trans speech isn’t dangerous, think again. »

Subscribe to LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities around the world.

Don’t forget to share: