Gay couple attacked and robbed by group who hurled homophobic slurs, police report says

Couple raises more than $17,000 to pay for medical costs and counselling after attack

A gay couple have said they were attacked and robbed by a group of men yelling homophobic slurs as they walked to a bar late at night in Washington, DC.

Police arrested three people, a 19-year-old man and two juvenile males, in connection with the attack and charged them with robbery by force and violence, according to a police statement.

Karl Craven said his boyfriend, Braden Brecht, was attacked by “a mob of 15 guys” who stole his wallet and Mr Brecht’s phone as they were walking to Nellie’s Sports Bar on U Street, DC, in the early hours of 16 June.

“He was leaning against me and a few guys started yelling ‘faggot’ at him and started to swing at him,” he wrote on a GoFundMe page.

“It was all a quick blur but next thing you know there was literally a mob of 15 guys beating him. They came out of nowhere and I was powerless to stop them, all I could do was jump on him to try to protect him and scream help.”

After the incident, Mr Craven set up a fundraising page to cover medical costs for Mr Brecht, who does not have insurance, after he reportedly suffered a chipped tooth and needed multiple stitches on his lip.

The GoFundMe page has raised more than $17,500 (£13,800) since Sunday, well above the $10,000 goal Mr Craven set.

He has said any funds left over after medical treatment and counselling will be donated to the Casa Ruby organisation, an LGBT+ group in Washington, DC.

“We are extremely thankful for all the donations and the flood of support we have received in the past few days,” Mr Craven said.

“We were shown the worst in people [on] Saturday night, and the best in people through the community response.”

A police report described the incident as a "suspected hate crime" and noted that "sexual orientation" was being considered as a motivation for the crime.

Although three people were charged by police, a spokesperson for the US attorney's office for the District told The Washington Post that prosecutors later declined to file charges against the adult man.

However, the spokesperson did not provide a reason for the decision.

The office of DC's attorney general declined to comment to The Washington Post on the status of the charges against the two juvenile males.

The police department has been contacted to ask whether they are searching for other suspects in connection with the robbery, beyond the three men who were charged.

The incident was one of a number of recent attacks in the US capital’s LGBT+ community.

Police have said three people were stabbed inside a gay bar in Washington, DC, on Sunday morning and a transgender woman was shot and killed in Fairmount Heights, near the border of DC and Maryland, on 13 June.

In response, a vigil will be held at Dupont Circle, DC, on Friday.

David Mariner, the executive director of The DC Centre for LGBT Equality, told NBC News that hate crimes had been rising throughout Washington DC.

“We’ve seen a citywide increase in hate crimes, and U Street, which is an LGBT-friendly part of the district, is not an exception,” he said.

The incident also follows an attack on a lesbian couple in London who were assaulted on a night bus on 30 May.

Four male teenagers have been arrested in connection with that incident on suspicion of robbery and aggravated GBH, London’s Metropolitan Police said.