Atlanta Anti-Gay Gang Beating Caught On Tape, But Officials Say No Victim Has Come Forward (VIDEO)

Shockingly brutal footage of an Atlanta gang beating up a local teenager who reportedly was targeted due to his perceived sexual orientation has gone viral on the Internet, but puzzled authorities say the victim has yet to come forward.

A 30-second video clip of the beating, which shows a group of men ambushing the victim and shouting gay slurs as he exits a grocery store, was posted to the website Worldstar Hip-Hop. CBS News Atlanta also included footage from surveillance cameras at the store itself, which shows a tire being thrown on the victim.

As Project Q Atlanta is noting, one of the attackers -- who is reportedly part of an Atlanta gang called the Pittsburgh Jack City Gang -- shouted "no faggots in Jack City" in the original clip. The language, and other slurs, have since been removed as part of the news broadcast.

Sharon Stapel, executive director of the Anti-Violence Project, which runs the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), told The Washington Post that the footage is an “incredibly disturbing representation of the physical violence that LGBT people face every day in this country." Acknowledging the victim may not have actually been gay, she added, "This man was just walking out of a corner store, and he was attacked. It's a really tragic and clear reminder of what the reality is like for some in the LGBT community, and how senseless and incomprehensible it is that someone would attack someone just because they thought they were gay."

FBI officials say they are working to determine if the actions seen in the video violate federal law, including the hate crime statute. But, as Atlanta police told CBS, even though they have sufficient evidence that a crime took place, the victim remains unidentified. "We're hopeful the victim is going to come forward or someone will tell us who he is," said officer John Chafee.

Comments

[Hank10303]

10:19 AM on 02/09/2012

Catch, convict and put them in jail for a good 10 years and see if those skinny homophobs are man enough to stand up to big John in da house.

[Toddie Pilates]

05:59 PM on 02/08/2012

This kind of thing fills me with RAGE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
COWARDS !!! COWARDS !!! COWARDS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[creamcorn]

03:12 PM on 02/08/2012

This would have been covered more if the attackers would have been white.

[mbroo]

07:13 PM on 02/08/2012

What does race have to do with this? This is a hate crime no matter who did it...

[Cautiously optimistic]

01:32 PM on 02/08/2012

When will Jesse and Al get ahold of this story. Will they comment? They should be outraged. If they don't comment, it must not benefit them or fit their agenda.

[Rwin Hopkins]

12:58 PM on 02/08/2012

this happens all the time yo

[MichaelRCooke]

10:23 AM on 02/08/2012

Imagine being this guy. If he comes forward, he will be hounded by rumours that he is Gay. In some states it could cost him his job quite legally. Otherwise it could cost him friends and good relations with his family.

Of course if he is Gay and Out he should come forward. But the fact he has not come forward suggests he has something real to lose by coming forward. Because that is what it is to be Gay, the one minority where being publically bigoted against can win you political contests!

[mbroo]

07:15 PM on 02/08/2012

He came forward today...

[TheFriendlyAtheist]

11:18 PM on 02/07/2012

My hat is off to the good judges who decided this case but, If anyone thinks the five sons of the inquisition who set on the supreme court are going to let this stand, they better think again. When it comes to this case the clear meaning of the equal protection clause will take a back seat to the pronouncements of the Holy See and the wishes of the political right.

[Yeah-Me]

10:58 AM on 02/08/2012

Huh? What?

Are you commenting on the right story?

[Ishmael Griffin]

10:14 PM on 02/07/2012

And faced with the spectre of being labeled "gay" why would a "heterosexual" Black man come forward? Perhaps this man understands that the "gay"community baiting him cannot be trusted to make a significant permanent difference in his life. Perhaps he has rightly analyzed that the "gay" community has no magic wand. This community is not going to give him a job, nor pull him up out of poverty nor reduce his probability of being harrased by the police. Now change the above wording from "heterosexual" to "homosexual" and nothing is changed...nothing at all... therein lies the problem.....

[Rwin Hopkins]

01:03 PM on 02/08/2012

what are u talking about this gay child was beaten because he is gay and if he comes forward he fears being ostracized by his family and his community because he's gay. the black community is very religious i.e. very homophobic i'm sure this wasn't his first beating for being gay. and ur right there isn't anything that anybody is or could do about this situation. until we as a society really try to put an end to homophobia, sexism, racism, and any other societal ill things like this will keep happening. gays need to arm ourselves blacks and gays are the only groups of people hated globally.

[Ishmael Griffin]

01:45 PM on 02/08/2012

...and what happens after the lights and cameras are gone.... he is still just another Black man in Southeast Atlanta....what's changed? You armchair liberals kill me....

[practiceempathy]

02:47 PM on 02/08/2012

Take another hit, mac.

[Kris999]

09:24 PM on 02/07/2012

Why do heterosexual males always have to resort to violent behavior concerning an issue they dont want to be fact...sickening that its 2012 and the evolution of the the human hetero male has yet to catch up to the rest of us.If you want to fight so damn bad,then go to Iraq and help win the damn war,but you wont do that because there are gays there too...surprise morons,they are everywhere whether you want them to be or not and they arent gonna leave any time soon no matter how much you try and eliminate them!

[TRhett]

10:12 PM on 02/07/2012

Although I agree with your sentiments, I'm not sure "evolution" is the right term . . . evolution stopped applying to humans (of all sexes and orientations) hundreds of years ago once our basic needs were met. I think "ignorance" and "fear" are probably more accurate, and sadly, I'm not sure that is going to change . . . at least not in our lifetimes.

[lizr]

11:11 PM on 02/07/2012

evolution is an ongoing process, go read about it again

[practiceempathy]

02:51 PM on 02/08/2012

We are constantly undergoing our collective intellectual evolution.

[mddunnington]

10:22 PM on 02/07/2012

They cowards..If there was equal amount of gay guys there they would be running.

[mbroo]

09:10 PM on 02/07/2012

I'm not shocked because this is Atlanta, I live here and it happens quite often. Sad...

[lizr]

11:12 PM on 02/07/2012

and here I was under the impression Atlanta was an enlightened part of the South!

[mbroo]

07:12 PM on 02/08/2012

No not at all, they are still quite backwards in their thinking...the mentality here is...let's just say all I can do is shake my head at the ignorance...

[mbroo]

09:38 PM on 02/07/2012

So this is a black issue? Your ignorance is astoundingly sad...

[GreedyPig]

10:28 PM on 02/07/2012

Check out the assorted cases of gang violence that have occurred in the US in the last year, and I doubt you'll find one incident that wasn't perpetrated by a black gang. So go ahead and live in denial.

[Kaiser Sozae]

10:22 PM on 02/07/2012

Don't be a bigot and an idiot!!
I believe the Animals that tortured and killed Matthew Sheppard were all white.
But there was outrage in the white community that led to hate crime legislation.

[WendellPerrySociety]

10:22 PM on 02/07/2012

I didn't see yo momma out there

[Kaiser Sozae]

10:23 PM on 02/07/2012

And who did the animals who killed Matthew Shepard vote for!?
Wow! Such hate & ignorance.

[unstrung14]

08:26 PM on 02/07/2012

the victim is white the attackers are black...no one cares

[mbroo]

09:01 PM on 02/07/2012

The victim was black....

[mbroo]

09:03 PM on 02/07/2012

Did you watch the video? They actually mentioned that he was a young black gay male...

[bobshu7]

08:20 PM on 02/07/2012

I sure wish that young man had been armed.He would be a hero today instead of a victim. "NO ONE" has a right to put their hands on another human being unless invited. There is "NO" excuse for this violent attack no matter the persons color,religion,sexual tendencies or any other percieved difference of the normal. Animals act like this but not human beings.

[Djuan Sherman-Wash]

08:08 PM on 02/07/2012

When I saw this video yesterday and learned through TSG that Jack City was in Atlanta, I immediately called and spoke with a field agent of the Atl div. of the FBI. I'm SO thankful that they decided to take action!! Supposedly the victim will be having a press conference soon!!