HELL’S KITCHEN — A person called a Hell’s Kitchen gay bar and threatened to “do you worse than Orlando” in an incident that's being investigated as a hate crime, the NYPD said.
A 35-year-old bartender working at 9th Avenue Saloon at 656 Ninth Ave., between West 45th and 46th streets, told police a person he didn’t know called the bar around 6:30 p.m. on June 21, spoke in a whisper and hung up.
Within a few seconds, the bar received another call.
“I’m gonna do you worse than Orlando,” the anonymous caller told the bartender, according to police.
The caller then hung up after making the threat, the NYPD said.
The saloon, which describes itself as Hell’s Kitchen’s “longest running neighborhood gay bar,” received the call a little more than a week after a shooter killed 49 people and injured dozens of others at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
An employee working at 9th Avenue Saloon Monday declined to comment on the incident, and a manager could not immediately be reached for comment.
The incident is being investigated as a hate crime, police said.
