Iowa teen beaten to death by mob shouting anti-gay slurs
August 22, 2011 | 5:55 pm
(Updated: January 30, 2013 | 6:02 pm)
Marcellus Andrews, 19, of Waterloo, Iowa, died after a group of attackers shouting anti-gay slurrs became involved in a brawl between Andrews and two female friends last Friday.
Last Friday a 19-year old teenager was beaten to death in Waterloo, Iowa, by a group of unnamed attackers who drove up in a pickup truck and became engaged in a brawl with the boy and two female friends on a front porch.
Marcellus Richard Andrews was badly injured during the fight, and died hours later in a hospital. Police were initially reluctant to cite a motivation for the attack, but reports from the WCF Courier, a local paper, detailed the anti-gay slurs shouted by the attackers.
It was after midnight early Friday morning when Friend Nakita Wright, and her cousin Trudia Simpson, went for a walk down the street while Andrews stayed behind on the porch. Moments later they heard yelling behind them, and turned around to see a truck stopped in the street and people shouting “faggot” at Andrews from the window.
The girls ran back as the shouting heated between Andrews and the attackers, who got out of the truck. It was Simpson who threw the first punch and a brawl ensued. Moments later, Andrews was on the ground – he was kicked in the face as Wright tried to help him up – and when the attackers finally left, he appeared “dazed,” Wright said, and was unable to stand. That’s when Wright called 911 and Andrews was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Friends say that Andrews was not one to be involved in fights, but based on details of the attack the attackers appeared to have known who he was. News reports don’t say whether Andrews was gay or straight, only that he had graduated from cosmetology school and would be attending interior design classes at a local college soon, and that homophobic slurs were used in the altercation leading to his death.
Sickening and sadening. ;( Where is the dislike button?
agreed. this is so sad and so unnecessary – and yet so common. totally “unlike.”
This is what lingers after Bachmann visits.
dam them….straight to hell!
It doesn’t matter if he was gay or straight, if they thought he was it’s still a hate crime.
This breaks my heart…