Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Anthony Collao was Beaten and Stomped to death in an Anti-Gay Attack


18-year-old Anthony Collao was beaten to death in an anti-day attack at a party this past weekend.
It's not clear why Collao was targeted. Friends said he had a girlfriend and was not gay - though the two men who threw the party are openly gay.


Four suspects - Alex Velez, 16, of the Bronx, and Nolis Ogando, Christopher Lozada and Luis Tabales, all 17 and from Queens - were arrested soon after the Saturday incident.


Lozada was wearing the victim's Atlanta Braves baseball cap, and the others were covered in blood, sources said.


They were arraigned Monday night on charges of manslaughter and assault in Queens Criminal Court and were each held on bail of $100,000 to $200,000.


They came uninvited to the Woodhaven party - advertised on Facebook - and refused to pay a $7 cover charge. They stormed the 90th St. home, busting windows and picking fights, witnesses said.


The party was held in an abandoned home without electricity, lawyers for the suspects said.


The crashers flashed gang signs, yelled anti-gay slurs and scrawled epithets in red marker on the walls, the two party hosts said.


"They called us homos and all kinds of stuff," said one of the men, who was celebrating his 20th birthday.


Sensing trouble, Collao left with a friend and was chased, sources said. The gang caught up to him, pinned him against a car and "beat him to within an inch of his life," a source said.


He was kicked and punched. Velez carried a pipe, sources said.


Collao was on life support until Monday.


Neighbors said his family runs an ice cream business in Queens and moved to Long Island three years ago.


"He was a very respectful, very friendly, very handsome young man," neighbor Angela Marinella, 69, said. "It breaks my heart."

Anthony just graduated from school. He was going to help run his family ice cream shop.


source

1 comment:

Cubby said...

I feel so bad for this young man's family. This is horrific news, and is honestly my biggest fear when walking down the street.

This speech from "Torch Song Trilogy" keeps going through my mind now:

YOU LOST YOUR HUSBAND IN A CLEAN HOSPITAL. I LOST MINE ON THE STREET. THEY KILLED HIM ON THE STREET.

TWENTY YEARS OLD LAYING DEAD. KILLED BY KIDS WITH BASEBALL BATS!

THAT'S RIGHT, MA, KILLED BY CHILDREN. CHILDREN TAUGHT BY PEOPLE LIKE YOU.

QUEERS DON'T MATTER! QUEERS DON'T LOVE! AND THOSE THAT DO DESERVE WHAT THEY GET!

Oh God, now I'm crying. I should not have gone there.

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.