The ways in which someone can become a hero in the digital age are still undefined -- and one social media sleuth took matters into his own hands last month after a violent and heartbreaking alleged gay bashing in Philadelphia left people looking for answers.
On September 11, two gay men were allegedly the victims of an anti-gay attack by a large group of "well-dressed" individuals. Online activists later successfully identified the alleged attackers through the use of multiple social media platforms and a photo the group had taken at a restaurant shortly before the attack. Three suspects, Kathryn Knott, whose father is a police chief, James Kerrigan and Philip Williams, are now slated to stand in a preliminary hearing for the attack on Dec. 16.
Twitter user @FanSince09 was one of these activists and the main driving force behind identifying these suspects. He appeared on "The View" this week to discuss his detective work with Rosie O'Donnell -- though he chose to remain anonymous throughout the course of the interview.
"It was just such a horrific crime," the sleuth told O'Donnell. "I don't view Philadelphia -- despite our reputation it's a very progressive city and I was really shocked to see something like this happen. Normally I would be talking [on Twitter] about how we beat the giants last night but this was something that was really horrific to me so we had to do something."
Check out the video above to hear more from this social media detective.
(h/t Towleroad)