WILLIAMSBURG — A man yelled anti-gay slurs at three men then followed them to their Lorimer Street home and tried to smash his way through three doors, police and one of the victims said.
The man broke through the building's two entrance doors and broke one deadbolt on the men's apartment door before fleeing, police said.
He had not been apprehended as of Wednesday, according to police.
The incident happened just after 7:30 p.m. Saturday as the men walked two blocks between the Santos Anne restaurant on the corner of Powers Street and Union Avenue and the home of two of the men, police and a victim said.
While walking east on Powers Street, the three men passed the man, thought to be in his 30s, who was drunk and talking on the phone, said the victim, who asked not to be named.
"Hold on there's some gay guys on the street over here," the victim remembered the man saying. "I'm talking to you, f--s."
The victim said the man's homophobic slur angered him.
"I started yelling, that's all it took," he said. "I had turned red. I was very upset."
The victim told the man that he should get out of Brooklyn.
"This isn't the type of neighborhood where you talk to people like that," said the victim, who's lived in Williamsburg for five years.
The three kept walking and went into their first floor apartment, the victim said.
Moments later, they looked out of the window and saw the man bust through the front doors, then heard him banging on their own door, the victim said.
"He just flew through both those doors," he said. "He broke his way through...the deadbolts flew out."
The victim called 911 and police were on the scene in a matter of minutes, but the man had already left.
"[Police] treated it with such an urgency and thoughtfulness," the victim said.
The NYPD is investigating the incident as a hate crime, a spokesman confirmed Wednesday
"I don’t want to move because of this," the victim said. "I don’t want to alter my life."
