Juvenile Arrested, Others Sought in Attack on Gay Man at Pride Festival

A 15-year-old juvenile is custody and police are looking for other suspects in an attack on a gay Detroit man who was attacked at the Motor City Pride Festival last weekend.

Christin Howard, 22, said he was targeted by a group of five to seven men because he is gay.

“Investigators are diligently working toward trying to identify more suspects,” Officer Jennifer Moreno told The Detroit News.

No other arrests have been made. Police said earlier this week that they are treating the attack as a hate crime.

An aspiring hair stylist who goes by Chongleè on social media sites, including instagram, said he stopped to pose for a picture with a girl who recognized him when one of the men called him out, using a slur, he told he Detroit Free Press.

Howard said the man followed him for a distance and continued to harass him, and then was surrounded by at least  five other men

“I said, ‘Are y’all going to jump me?’ and I started to get ready to fight.”

A YouTube video shows the group punching and kicking Howard. He tried to defend himself and managed to take one of the attackers to the ground, but he was outmatched.

Howard reportedly suffered a broken hand, ruptured eye, and bruises on his face and back. An online fundraiser has been established to offset some of Howard’s medical bills and had raised $1,033 by early Friday evening.