A 26-year-old man was charged with numerous felonies, including first-degree murder and four firearm counts, for allegedly assaulting two gay men in Detroit, one of whom died.
Authorities suspect Demetris Nelson used the gay dating app Grindr to target 31-year-old Brian Anderson and 26-year-old Malcolm Drake focusing on them because of their sexual orientation.
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During an attempted robbery on July 6, officials allege, Nelson shot and killed Anderson and critically wounded Drake. Detroit Police investigated the shooting for two days before arresting Nelson, who was arraigned on Friday.
“The allegations are that social media contacts were used to target, contact, rob, fatally shoot one gay man, and seriously wound another gay man,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement. “To some, this will be just another hateful and violent act in America. They will read about this case and continue to go about their day. To me, that is quite tragic.”
The case was assigned to Special Prosecutor Jaimie Powell Horowitz of the Fair Michigan Justice Project (FMJP) through a program that allows the prosecutor’s office to team up with law enforcement to tackle serious crimes against the LGBTQ community.
“We are saddened and outraged by this despicable crime. This case is just the most recent example of how members of Detroit’s LGBTQ community are too often targets of violence,” Alanna Maguire from the Fair Michigan Project, told Fox 2.