Gay Hate Crime: Elliot Morales, 33, Charged After Killing Man In NYC Just For Being Gay

In what is being considered the fourth gay hate crime in New York City in only two weeks, a 33-year-old man with a criminal record has been charged with killing a gay man simply over his sexuality.

Elliot Morales, 33, of New York, has been charged with second degree murder as a hate crime, two counts of possession of a weapon and one count of menacing after he allegedly killed Mark Carson, 32, who was walking with a male friend in Manhattan's West Village on Friday night.

Carson was walking with a companion in the area of West 8 Street and Avenue of the Americas (6 Avenue) around midnight when the pair passed Morales. The aggressor reportedly called them a gay slur and told them they resembled "gay wrestlers".

According to Carson's anonymous companion, the two turned around and went back to ask Morales what he meant by the term. Morales responded by asking "do you want to die right now?" Carson's friend told police that he scoffed at Morales' warning, noting the bustling Greenwich Village thoroughfare on which the confrontation occurred.
Morales responded by asking "are you with him?", and when Carson said "Yes," Morales reportedly shot Carson point-blank in the face. Carson was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital around 1:40 a.m.

Responding to the incident, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said the act was undoubtedly a case of violent anti-gay sentiment: "It's clear that the victim here was killed only because and just because he was thought to be gay," Kelly said Sunday. Morales was caught a few blocks away near New York University by an alert NYPD officer who heard the report of the shooting on his radio. Morales admitted to killing Carson when he was arrested and was also allegedly laughing about the incident.

Carson, who reportedly never hid his sexuality, was called a "courageous person" by his surviving brother, Michael Bumpars.

Openly gay City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, D-Manhattan, responded to the attack in a statement, saying, "I am horrified to learn that last night, a gay man was murdered in my district after being chased out of a Greenwich Village restaurant and assailed by homophobic slurs."