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 Stabbed in Front of a Riverside Gay Bar Murdered Man was Active in Californian AIDS Organizations No Arrests Yet Made - Killing Being Probed as a Hate Crime |
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Compiled by GayToday
Riverside, California-Jeffrey Owens, "active in Inland gay organizations" according to
The Riverside Press Enterprise, was fatally stabbed last week in front of a gay bar here
where he was attending a birthday party.
Attackers also stabbed Michael Bussee, a marriage and family therapist. Both Owns and Busee were among several people attacked by a gang of as many as six men in the rear parking lot of The Menagerie. Both victims were stabbed in the back. Owens, who was stabbed four times, succumbed at Riverside Regional Medical Center. Michael Bussee, who survived, described how one of his attackers moved aggressively and quickly to strike him "just out of the blue!" Bussee also told how his murdered associate had shouted at his attackers prior to being attacked himself. "I'm really convinced that he was standing up for me. He was protecting me," said the dead man's grateful friend. One of the attackers specifically shouted "You want some trouble fag? Here it is." A shouted epithet ranks as important in court debates about hate crimes. Owens' partner of many years, Jeff Holland, witnessed the attack and clearly heard the epithet "fag" spoken.
John Davis, Deputy District Attorney, who heads the hate-crimes division of the Riverside County district attorney's office, says that although the unknown assailants did, in fact, use the epithet "fag," that it is too early to determine whether or not the case will be filed as a hate crime. According to Owens' decade-long friend, Don MacLeish, the murdered man was happily involved doing photography and stained glass after having worked at the Inland AIDS Project. The two friends met doing volunteer work on an AIDS quilt. "He was very outspoken, MacLeish told the Press Enterprise about Jeffery Owens, "He really got in your face!" |
