A D.C. gay couple has seen justice now that their teenage attackers are sitting in jail.
Carl Craven and boyfriend Braden Brech were standing on U Street NW near Nellie’s Sports Bar this past Sunday morning when they were suddenly attacked.
“[Brech] was leaning against me and a few guys started yelling ‘fa***t’ at him and started to swing at him,” Craven 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.”
The couple are new residents to the area. Brech had just moved there a month ago to support Craven as he pursued an internship. Unfortunately, their new life in D.C. was ruined by a group of violent teens.
D.C. police were quick in finding three of the assailants and arresting them. 19-year-old Marcus Britt and two young men whose identities were withheld, 15 and 16, were arrested as suspects of the crime, according to a statement from the authorities. All three were charged with robbery by force and violence.
But was it a hate crime? Was homophobia a cause and factor of the attack? Police are still investigating.
“The case is still under investigation, and sexual orientation is being investigated as a motivation,” Alaina Gertz, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department, told NBC News.
As for the couple, they are currently recovering from the attack. Brech was rushed to the hospital and treated in the emergency room. The bill and fees rounded up to a couple thousand dollars. Unfortunately for Brech, he’s currently without health insurance.
The couple then started a GoFundMe page to help with Brech’s expenses, and the page has already exceeded the $10,000 goal.
“We’ve gotten like a flood of support from, I guess, the gay community, and also I’m a part of this fraternity at my school. A lot of support there,” Craven said. “A lot of support from [Braden’s] family and friends from his side, so we’ve gotten a lot of support.”
