Two Lesbians Beaten and Slashed on Way to Dallas Pride
A homeless man attacked a group of women on their way to Dallas Pride this Sunday, punching and stabbing them as he shouted that they were going to hell.
Logo reports that Krystle Seats, Love Seiber, and their friend Vanessa Stephney were on their way to the Dallas Pride parade in the downtown area when 22-year-old homeless man Brandon Holbert approached them.
"He was yelling from a distance so I thought maybe, oh he's going to ask us for money," Seiber told FOX4 via a phone call from Oklahoma, where she's recuperating at home after a vicious attack that left her face and head in stitches.
"I've really just been staying in the house and avoiding people because my face looks really bad. The scarring is what I'm worried about most, having a huge scar on my face," Seiber said.
Police said Holbert zeroed in on the women near Main and Ervay Streets, yelling and punching Seats before chasing her and Seiber into a building. He cornered them in an elevator and began slashing their faces.
"Everybody was screaming and I didn't know how we were going to get out of the situation," Seiber said. "That was the scary part, because there was nobody there to help us. It was like we were just getting attacked."
Their friend Stephney told FOX4 that Holbert said, "'I see what you are doing, you are the child of Satan and God sees what you are doing and you guys are going to go to hell,'" Stepney said.
Police say they are not treating the incident as a hate crime and public police documents do not reflect any alleged homophobic ranting by Holbert, but do emphasize Holbert's erratic behavior.
Seiber said she's shaken -- not just from being attacked, but possibly targeted.
"Yes I do think he should be charged with a hate crime," Seiber said. "My family definitely thinks he got off a little too easy."