Gay teens jumped by 20 kids, 'not a hate crime' say police, victims will be charged

    

Homophobic slurs shouted during a fight at an Atlanta high school that wounded at least one gay student with a screwdriver, will not merit a hate or bias investigation, according to authorities. At least 100 students watched "a fight amongst kids" during an April 20 scuffle outside Carver High School, as described by Atlanta Police Department, despite a 16-year-old victim's claims that the attack was premeditated because of his sexual orientation.

"They don't like us cause we're gay," victim Timothy Jefferson told WXIA—TV, showing off a gash on the right side of his face where one attacker allegedly sliced him with a screwdriver. A parent drove Jefferson and a second victim, 17-year-old Zy'derryo Brown, to the hospital. Brown had a bloody mouth and loose teeth after being kicked in the head, a police report states.

"They beating them f-----s," and "gay a-- n----r" are just some of the profanity-laced insults witnesses say they heard batted around the fight. Both Jefferson and a second victim came out as gay in 2013.

A police report filed on Tuesday initially described the assault as two friends being jumped by a mob of 20 teens "because they were gay," though police spokeswoman Elizabeth Espy said that's no longer the case, citing surveillance footage.

She does not dispute his injuries, but rather the fight's motive after the report funneled through the department's LGBT liaison.

"He may tell a different story, but for our investigation, it's not going to be classified as a bias (or hate) crime," Espy told the Daily News.

Brown will be charged with disorderly conduct while the three other teens will face charges of affray.

Jefferson also claimed he and his mother, Sabrina Giles, warned Carver High School administration of the fight, but were ignored, a claim that Atlanta Public Schools spokeswoman Kimberly Willis Green would not verify to the Daily News pending the district's investigation.