Law enforcement in Washington, DC have arrested a juvenile wielding a machete spotted making threats and yelling anti-gay slurs this weekend.
The incident occurred in Northwest DC on Saturday. Fox DC 5 reports that the juvenile–who has not been publicly identified–began yelling anti-gay slurs at Troy Howley who was dining outside at Shaw’s Tavern, a local restaurant. The assailant also began stabbing cicadas on a nearby tree, and flicking them at the victim and his friends while they ate.
“I’ll silence you,” the attacker allegedly told his victim.
Related: Police investigating murder of 24-year-old trans woman as a hate crime
Police have opened a hate crime investigation into the incident, which also happened to coincide with queer pride events in Washington this weekend. Nearby cameras also recorded the incident; investigators are also reviewing the footage.
“It was awful,” Howley told reporters. “I’m very happy that I’m alive to tell this story. Things could have ended very terribly.”
The incident at Shaw’s Tavern follows another hate crime in Washington DC last week in which three individuals attacked a transgender woman in a laundromat.
ROGUEFOX413
Insane crazy that me a guy from Connecticut knows Troy and sees him in an article about an incident in DC. Glad he’s OK, no one should ever have to deal with this kind of nonsense
Leash
“I’ll silence you” interesting choice of words. I think certain media is partially responsible for this for pushing the narrative that conservative voices are being silenced.
Kangol2
I’m so glad Troy Howley and his friends are OK, and that they captured the teenager threatening them. The teen sounds like he needs immediate and intensive psychological help; that level of animus directed at out, happy gay people suggests he might be struggling with issues of self-repression and loathing, which he acted upon when he menaced them with that machete.