Homophobic attack on gay bar in Brooklyn
On Sunday, April 2, at around 9 pm, a man walked into the Rash bar in Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York, and poured a bottle of a flammable substance on the bar’s floor. He lit a match and set the floor on fire. According to the NYPD, as the bar became engulfed in flames, the man fled.
Rash Bar is a well-known LGBTQ establishment that is often frequented by people of color. On that particular night, there was an event scheduled to take place, however, at the time of the fire only three people were inside the bar. A 25-year-old female was transported to a nearby medical center with minor burns, while another was treated at the scene.
Video footage clearly shows the man calmly emptying a canister of something onto the floor of the Rash bar, crouching down, and lighting the fire. While the footage cuts off as the fire is ignited, the video does depict how large and fast the fire is ignited. The face of the man is not clearly shown on the camera. The canister is left behind, however.
Rash Bar was new and had only been around for about five months. Despite this, it was fast becoming a popular hangout spot for Brooklyn’s LGBTQ community. The business was booming and the bar was often packed with folks well into the late hours of the night.
Both of the owners of the bar are members of the LGBTQ community and say they are stunned by the turn of events. Claire Bendiner and Jack Sillen, who both go by they/them pronouns were unharmed during the incident, but their beloved bar is now an unrecognizable mess.
The suspect is described as a man between the ages of 20 and 30, standing at approximately 5 foot 9 inches, and weighing around 189 pounds.
“We’re not really sure what the motive was,” said co-owner Claire Bendiner. “It’s a queer bar, so maybe that had something to do with it, or maybe it was a disgruntled customer. I’m not really sure.”
A GoFundMe campaign to support the bar and its staff has already raised over $100,000.
It is unclear at this time whether police are investigating the incident as a hate crime, or not.
