An 18-year-old Queens man was beaten to death by party crashers in an attack authorities are calling a hate crime.
Anthony Collao, 18, had just left a party with a friend on Saturday when “he was chased and viciously beaten with a metal pipe,” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.
According to the Daily News, the attackers yelled anti-gay slurs as they beat Collao. Friends of the victim say Collao was not gay, but the hosts of the party he attended were openly gay.
Collao was on life support for two days after the brutal incident. He died Monday.
Four teen suspects were arrested in connection with the assault., the Daily News reported. They had allegedly crashed the Woodhaven party -- advertised on Facebook -- and refused to pay a $7 cover charge.
They then began harassing guests and yelling anti-gay slurs, the newspaper said. "They called us homos and all kinds of stuff," one guest told the News.
”We condemn this violent act of intolerance and ignorance in the strongest possible terms,”Quinn said.
Friends of Collao said he was helpful young man who wanted to help run his family's ice cream business.
