A D.C. Superior Court judge on Jan. 10 sentenced a 16-year-old male to a year of probation after he pleaded guilty to a single charge of simple assault related to the Oct. 27 incident in which police said as many as 15 people attacked a gay man at the D.C. McDonald’s restaurant at 14th and U Streets, N.W., with some of the attackers shouting anti-gay slurs.

The Washington Post published an exclusive report of the sentencing after its reporter was allowed to attend a juvenile court hearing that is closed to the public and the press on the condition that the Post would not disclose the name of the juvenile.

The Post story says prosecutors at the court hearing said that a week after the attack, the juvenile, accompanied by his mother, met with D.C. police, admitted to being a part of the attack, and was arrested. “The youth said he was intoxicated at the time and did not remember many of his actions,” the Post reports.

The victim in the case, Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro, 22, told police and the Washington Blade through a statement from his husband, Stuart West, that the attack began inside the McDonald’s about 1 a.m. when one of the attackers, a woman, criticized him for not saying “excuse me” when he walked past her inside the crowded restaurant.

When he walked away from the woman as many as 10 or more people started to assault Lascarro, according Lascarro’s account relayed by West. “And so, they started punching him all over his face and body, and it eventually moved to the outside of the McDonald’s on the D.C. sidewalk, where more people got involved and started hitting him and assaulting him,” West said.

Lascarro was taken by ambulance to Howard University Hospital, where he was treated and released the next day recovering from multiple bruises and cuts on his face, head and body, his husband said. Police listed the incident as a suspected hate crime.

No immediate arrests were made, but police released to the public and the media photos of seven suspects obtained from video surveillance cameras at McDonald’s, all of whom appeared to be juveniles. In a Nov. 6 statement, police announced they arrested one day earlier a 16-year-old juvenile male in connection with the attack on a charge of Assault With Significant Bodily Injury.

The Post story reports that during the Jan. 11 hearing D.C. prosecutor Gabrielle LoGaglio played two security videos that captured the outdoor part of the Oct. 27 attack against Lascarro at the McDonald’s. “The youth charged in the attack was clearly identifiable because he was wielding a tiki torch-like pole and was seen striking Lascarro on the head with it, she said,” the Post story reports.

The story reports that through an arrangement with prosecutors, the juvenile pleaded guilty to a single count of simple assault. It says while standing next to his court appointed attorney, the juvenile repeatedly apologized to Lascarro, who was watching the hearing through a video hookup.

“From the bottom of my heart, I want to say I am sorry to the victim and his family,” the Post quoted him as saying. “I was not raised by my mother to behave like that,” the Post quote continues. “I am sorry. I am not a criminal. I have shown people love and respect and kindness. I am sorry for the emotional and physical damage I have caused.”

The Post story also quoted from a statement that Lascarro submitted to the court and which prosecutors read. West, Lascarro’s husband, sent a copy of the statement to the Blade.

Lascarro says in his statement that he moved to D.C. from his home country of Colombia in 2023 after marrying his husband because D.C. “felt so open and welcoming to people like me — gay and proud.” He added, “Here, I felt safe to be myself, to dress how I wanted, wear makeup, and just live my life” as he could not feel safe doing in his home country.

“After the attack, everything changed,” he says in his statement. “I don’t feel safe anymore. I don’t feel like I can be myself without looking over my shoulder,” the statement continues. “It’s hard to put into words how this has hurt me mentally. The bruises are gone now, but the fear and trauma are still with me every day.”

The Post reports that prosecutors said they agreed to a sentence of one year’s probation because the juvenile had no prior arrests. At the request of prosecutors, Judge Charles J. Willoughby Jr. agreed to include in the sentencing that the juvenile be placed on GPS monitoring and be “ordered to attend school regularly and take random drug and alcohol tests as needed.”

According to the Post, Judge Willoughby described the attack against Lascarro as “vicious and unprovoked,” and told the juvenile “you need to stay away from those other juveniles” who joined him in the attack on Lascarro.

CAMP Rehoboth will host a community conversation with elected officials on Thursday, Jan. 16 at 10 a.m. at the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center. 

Panelists include Mike Brickner, executive director of ACLU of Delaware; Sen. Russ Huxtable of the 6th Senate district of Delaware; and Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall of the 14th district of Delaware. 

“CAMP Rehoboth looks forward to safeguarding protections of the LGBTQ+ community by bringing awareness to initiatives in place, and partnering with agencies and elected officials to listen to our challenges and concerns. We hope you will join us,” said Kim Leisey, Ph.D., executive director of CAMP Rehoboth. 

Advance registration is required and can be accessed on CAMP Rehoboth’s website.

Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant, a gay establishment in the Crystal City section of Arlington, Va., was one of at least three restaurants to be hit with small fires on the same block between 5-5:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan 9.

Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s, told the Washington Blade someone set the front door of his bar and restaurant on fire during that time on Jan. 9. The door was partially blackened by the flames, but the restaurant itself did not catch fire, Lutz said.

He said two nearby bars and restaurants on the 500 block of South 23rd Street were also hit with small fires around that same time. They were the Crystal City Sports Pub and McNamara’s Pub and Restaurant.

According to Lutz, the small fire at Freddie’s took place the day before and the day after Freddie’s received a threatening phone call from what sounded like the same unidentified male caller.

“He said I’m going to fuck you up and I’m going to fuck the women up,” Lutz said the person told Freddie’s manager, who answered the two calls.

Lutz said the fact that the calls came just before and just after the fire was set on his front door, prompted him to speculate that the caller could be the same person who started the fire.

He said the two calls came from two different phone numbers, which Lutz gave to police who arrived on the scene with an Arlington Fire Department official to investigate the three fires.

A statement released Jan. 9 by the Arlington Fire Department says the department initially responded at about 5:30 a.m. to a reported fire at 529 S. 23rd Street, which is the location of the Crystal City Sports Pub. The statement says firefighters found a fire in an enclosed patio at the restaurant that was “contained” by a sprinkler system and was extinguished by firefighters.

“The preliminary investigation conducted by the Office of the Fire Marshall determined the fire to be suspicious in nature,” the statement says. “During the investigation, additional fire damage was discovered to adjacent businesses,” it says. “These fires are also being investigated and are deemed suspicious in nature.”

Capt. Nathaniel Hiner, a Fire Department spokesperson, told the Washington Blade in an email on Jan. 10 the fires have now been designated as arson.

The Jan. 9 statement did  not mention Freddie’s, or one of the other two restaurants hit by a small fire at that time, McNamara’s Pub and Restaurant, which is located two doors away from Freddie’s. But Lutz said a deputy fire marshal who spoke with him said each of the three fires was being investigated.

Lutz said someone attempted to set the rear metal door of McNamara’s on fire, which blackened part of that red-colored door.

“I have a feeling that we got targeted because we are a gay bar,” Lutz told the Blade. “I just have that feeling.”

But he said he told a police officer who stopped by Freddie’s in response to the fire that it may not be a hate crime “because they hit the other two restaurants. And he said it could be possible that they were targeting me because I’m a gay bar.”

“The Office of the Fire Marshall is asking anyone with additional  information to contact Lieutenant Wandekha Kanthula at 751-357-0769 or [email protected],” the fire department says.