WCBS’s Alex Silverman reports that the man who viciously attacked two gay men with a chair in a Chelsea barbecue restaurant on May 5 has been identified as Bayna El-Amin. According to Silverman, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce called El-Amin a “career criminal,” and a Google search turns up arrest records in New York and Georgia.
Suspect in Chelsea Dallas BBQ attack on 2 gay men ID'd as Bayna El-Amin. @NYPDDetectives says he's a career criminal.
— Alex Silverman (@AlexSilverman) May 19, 2015
.@NYPDDetectives says they believe the suspect in the Dallas BBQ attack has fled the state.
— Alex Silverman (@AlexSilverman) May 19, 2015
ABC 7 reports that detectives have been tracking him for about a week, but have not been able to find him.
The Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the assault, although Gothamist reported that the suspect may himself be gay and that the victims of the chair-beating may have instigated the fight.
Bayna El-Amin’s Facebook appears to have been deleted, but Google’s cache for the page shows that he says he works in “Personal Security for Sketchie ENTertainment,” a nightclub promotion company. Both people who answered the phones at the phone numbers listed on Sketchie’s Facebook page said it was the wrong number. An email to Sketchie has not received a response.
