Gay Man Killed In Greenwich Village Hate Crime

Tragic murder committed in the early hours of the day.

New York's CBS 2 reports:

A gunman used anti-gay slurs before he shot and killed a man in fashionable Greenwich Village early Saturday, police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

Police were dispatched to the corner of 8th Street and Sixth Avenue just after midnight Saturday. They found the victim, an unidentified 32-year-old man, on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head, police said.

Kelly said the gunman…first urinated on the street outside a bar, then walked into the bar, according to an Associated Press report. The man proceeded to make anti-gay remarks to the bartender and show that he had a silver pistol in his holster, the wire service reported.

Kelly then said the gunman came up to the victim and his companion outside, asked if they were “gay wrestlers,” and shot the victim in the face, the wire service reported.

According to the NY Post, a suspect was apprehended shortly after the shooting: "The gunman ran five blocks before cops collared him at West Third Street and MacDougal Street."

NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn released a statement condemming the attack:

"I am horrified to learn that last night, a gay man was murdered in my district after being chased out of a Greenwich Village restaurant and assailed by homophobic slurs….There was a time in New York City when two people of the same gender could not walk the street arm-in-arm without fear of violence and harassment. We refuse to go back to that time.”

Also speaking out this morning is State Senator Brad Hoylman:

"I am outraged by the recent wave of anti-LGBT violence in our city and it is shocking and extremely distressing that a man was shot to death just this morning apparently because he was gay. Nobody anywhere should have to live with fear of harm because of his or her sexual orientation…. I applaud the NYPD for making a swift arrest in this case and call on all New Yorkers to unite against hate and gun violence."

Neither the victim or the suspect have been identified. Updates as they come in.

Update: Victim has been ID'd as Marc Carson, according to a NYT police source. Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly: “This clearly looks to be a hate crime.”