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Horrific Hate Crime Inspires Evening Vigil

Attackers in Lincoln, Nebraska, carve slurs on woman's body

By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 23, 2012 3:36 PM CDT

(Newser) – A brutal homophobic attack in Lincoln, Nebraska, left one woman screaming as she crawled from her house yesterday and inspired hundreds to attend a vigil against hate crimes, the Journal-Star reports. The woman said three masked men burst into her house, tied her up, cut her all over, and carved anti-gay slurs into her body. When they set her floor on fire with gasoline, she crawled to her neighbor's house calling for help.

Police are investigating, but haven't named any suspects. A vigil organized on Facebook got about 300 people to the capitol building last night, where LGBT advocate Karen Bratton-Cranford advised against vigilante justice. "Don't give them the power to control your actions," she said. Another advocate urged protesters to believe in the police: "I have a lot of faith in our police department," he said. "We have a long history of support within our community."

About 300 people turned out for a vigil against hate crimes last night in Lincoln, Nebraska.
About 300 people turned out for a vigil against hate crimes last night in Lincoln, Nebraska.   (Shutterstock)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 55 comments
JennyWilliams
Jul 24, 2012 5:58 AM CDT
I'm sorry, guys. I'm totally for gay-marriage, gay-rights, gay-everything, but this screams she-did-it-herself syndrome. Very neat spray-paint on the wall. From men who just broke in, zip tied a girl, etc? Zip ties. How convenient. I mean, a rope you'd need someone to tie you up, wouldn't you? A zip tie you can do yourself with. And if you really hated someone, wouldn't you do more than superficial marks to the skin? You'd really dig in, right? Then they half-assed their arson and bolted? Really? This has happened before. (Example, Jewish girl who carved a swastika on her door a year or so ago for attention.) Go on, dislike this, rant on me: wait a few weeks and I assure you this will come out as a hoax or self-inflicted.
summerfairy
Jul 24, 2012 12:41 AM CDT
two weeks later:  Woman confesses to cutting herself and saying she was attacked by homophobes.  
ladyrosedeky
Jul 23, 2012 11:17 PM CDT
All I can say is she is very fortunate that they didn't tie her up all that well because she was able to escape before the fire got her.
 

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