On September 11 in Philadelphia, two gay men were the victims of a violent gang assault. One of the men had to have his jaw wired shut while the other suffered cuts and broken bones. Their identities haven’t been released publicly.
According to police, the two were confronted by a large group of men and women in their early 20’s. One member of the group asked the men were “boyfriends”. Before they began assaulting the two men, the group also made — according to police — “disparaging remarks” about gay people. In addition to the hate crime, someone from the group also stole one of the victims bags.
Philadelphia police issued the YouTube video below in hopes that people from the community could help them find their perps.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD8MglUjA50
Because of this video, and people having incredible creep skills on Facebook (takes one to know one, yo), a man named Greg Bennett posted the picture below claiming that he got it from a “friend of a friend of a friend”. He stated that the people in the picture looked an awful lot like the people in the video.
Philly hate crime: pic.twitter.com/i3PBprO9nn
— Greg Bennett (@GreggyBennett) September 17, 2014
That is when our Twitter Hero stepped in.
@FanSince09 is a mega Philly fan after he retweeted the photo, many of his followers chimed in telling him that was La Viola Italian restaurant.
Any Facebook who knows anything would do the next logical thing. He started checking Facebook for people who checked in at La Viola the night of the incident. Having their group picture made it pretty easy to determine who was who.
If you're going to gay bash don't fill your FB profile with gay slurs and also delete that resturant check in from earlier
— FanSince09 (@FanSince09) September 17, 2014
After IDing some of the perps, @FanSince09 called the police to give them the news. As expected, they were pretty pumped.
S/O to @FanSince09 This is what makes my job easy. Sure, it's up to me to make the arrest but we are all in this together.
— Joseph Murray (@PPDJoeMurray) September 17, 2014
According to Gawker, ABC 6 reporter Kenneth Morton said that the news station had learned that some of the suspects have now retained lawyers. Said lawyers were already contacting law enforcement about making “arrangements”.
I’m assuming the “arrangement” is to somehow surrender without releasing their identity. Although, judging with how they were found, I’d bet most of Twitter will know who they are soon enough.
@FanSince09 did Twitter right and you should give him a follow. He also added that the $10,000 reward, if given to him, would be split with the LGBT community in Philly. Also, he said he would accept it in a Bane mask.
I promise I will accept a reward check or key to the city in a bane mask
— FanSince09 (@FanSince09) September 17, 2014
ALSO, anyone out there hiring?
Is be nice if this lead to someone thinking I'm ok to give a job to
— FanSince09 (@FanSince09) September 17, 2014
[Gawker]
