Police in Commerce City, Colorado, have arrested an e-bike rider who allegedly hurled homophobic slurs at a gay couple before shooting and critically wounding one of the men.
The apparent road-rage shooting occurred around 9:30 p.m. on August 1 near the victims’ apartment complex on East 62nd Avenue. One of the men told police he was driving with his husband in the passenger seat when two e-bike riders cut them off.
The driver told detectives that he honked and flashed his lights at the riders, who began following the car while shouting anti-gay slurs and other derogatory remarks at the couple, according to a police affidavit.
He said he passed the entrance to his apartment complex in an attempt to “lose” the riders. After seeing them turn toward the entrance gate, he doubled back and found them waiting there, reports Denver-based Fox affiliate KDVR.
Moments later, he saw a light aimed at the car and heard a “pop” before the rear windshield shattered. He then realized his husband had been shot in the head and appeared to be snoring — a sound police identified as “agonal breathing,” which occurs when someone near death is unable to get enough oxygen.
His husband was taken to a local hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
Responding officers found a single 9mm shell casing near the apartment complex’s entrance gate. They also spotted a man, later identified as Jacob Sifuentez, standing nearby and looking at the casing, according to the affidavit. Sifuentez told an officer that he had heard a “pop” and seen the police vehicles but knew nothing about what had happened.
Surveillance footage shows the couple’s car traveling west with the e-bike riders following behind. The riders turn into the apartment complex as the car continues past them before doubling back. A light resembling one mounted on a weapon is then aimed at the car, which speeds away as the shot is fired.
During an interview with detectives, Sifuentez denied involvement in the shooting and claimed he had been at home, according to the affidavit. When confronted with evidence contradicting his alibi, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
In a separate interview, the other e-bike rider claimed that the couple’s car nearly struck him and repeatedly swerved and brake-checked the riders. He admitted calling the men derogatory names but said they had been yelling back.
According to the rider, the car drove away before returning, and the driver appeared to be holding something in his hand. He said he then heard a gunshot and was told by Sifuentez to run. He claimed he did not know where the shot came from or that Sifuentez was carrying a gun.
Police arrested Sifuentez three days after the shooting and charged him with two counts of attempted first-degree murder. During his arrest, he allegedly told detectives that he wanted to admit what he had done. He echoed the other rider’s account, claiming that the car had nearly struck and repeatedly brake-checked them and that the couple had yelled at the riders and threatened to kill them.
When the car returned, Sifuentez said, he drew his gun and switched on its light. He claimed he saw that the driver had one hand free and feared he might be carrying a weapon. According to the affidavit, Sifuentez told police he “was scared, and reacted the way he thought he had to.”
Sifuentez admitted firing once at the car before running away. After learning that the victim was in critical condition, he allegedly told detectives that he deserved the consequences and directed them to the gun in his wife’s vehicle.
A Jacksonville man who shot his LGBTQ neighbor, leaving him partially paralyzed, has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
In May, Tyler Getchell, 30, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted manslaughter for shooting 24-year-old Kyle McFarlane during a dispute over alleged trespassing. He was initially charged with attempted murder.
According to the Florida Times-Union, Getchell's attorneys requested a "downward departure," or a less severe sentence, arguing that he had no prior felony convictions, had served five years in the U.S. Navy, expressed remorse for the shooting, and remained at the scene rather than fleeing.
GxBar, an LGBTQ-friendly salon in Kyiv, was vandalized by unidentified individuals who poured blood and left severed pig heads and entrails around its main entrance.
The vandalism targeted the GxBar Special salon, which has faced other attacks in recent months that the business believes are linked to its support for the LGBTQ community.
According to a post on GxBar's Instagram account, the salon was defaced around 6:17 a.m. on July 21. Security footage from inside the salon shows at least one person -- and possibly others -- dousing the entrance in blood and placing the pig heads on the building's front stoop.
Canada will lift restrictions that have prevented some gay and bisexual men from donating sperm by eliminating questions about recent anal sex from its screening process.
Health Canada, the federal department responsible for national health policy, said that beginning this fall, potential sperm donors will no longer be asked whether they have recently had anal sex with a new partner or multiple partners. Instead, all donors will be rigorously tested for infectious diseases, including HIV and hepatitis B and C.
Supporters of the change argue that asking whether a donor has engaged in anal sex does not accurately measure risk because it fails to account for condom use or preventive medications such as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. The screening questions also did not distinguish between donors with new or multiple partners and those in monogamous relationships with HIV-negative partners.
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