Armed, Masked Men Attack Group Standing Outside Atlanta Gay Bar

"The only thing I could do was...pray that we made it out with our lives."

From: NewNowNext

 A group of gay men who were robbed at gunpoint outside an Atlanta bar July 10th, are still shaken by the ordeal, and police are nowhere close to apprehending the suspects.

Victim Tripp Barrett told CBS 46 that he and a group of friends were standing outside Burkhart’s Pub, a gay bar on Piedmont Avenue in the Midtown gayborhood, on Sunday when a vehicle full of armed men pulled up and unloaded in front of them.

According to police, the masked suspects forced the group of friends to the ground at gunpoint, and stole their car and cash.

“Nobody wanted to believe that it happened,” said Barrett. “I don’t want to believe that it happened. The only thing I could do was pray at that point. Pray that we made it out with our lives.”

Officer Lukas Sajak of the Atlanta Police Department acknowledged the victims were all gay but refused to call the robbery a bias crime.

“At this point, there’s nothing in the investigation that would lead us to believe that they were targeted,” he said. “A robbery, it could’ve happened anywhere. It’s a crime of opportunity. Officers diligently patrol the area.”

However Barrett believes it was a bias crime because the bar is unmistakably a gay bar.

“Pretty much everyone who frequents the club is a member of the LGBTQ community,” he said. “I do believe that had something to do with it. I also believe they may have been waiting for the bartenders to get off work because they know they’d have a pocket full of cash.”

Police have failed to identify any suspects but continue asserting how “safe” the area is.