Authorities are investigating the overnight shooting death of a 32-year-old man in New York’s Greenwich Village as a hate crime after police said the shooter may have hurled anti-gay slurs.

"This clearly looks to be a hate crime," NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters on Saturday.

While investigators continued to piece together the events leading up to the shooting, police identified the victim as Marc Carson of Manhattan.

Carson was outside a 99 Cent Pizza on Sixth Avenue before midnight with a friend when they were approached by the suspect, the friend told police, according to NBC New York. After the suspect hurled anti-gay slurs, Carson responded and then walked away, the friend told police.

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The suspect approached Carson and the friend again on West 8th Street near Sixth Avenue, law enforcement officials said. The suspect then allegedly pulled out a .38-caliber revolver and shot Carson in the face.

Carson suffered a single gunshot wound to the head, according to a police release. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Beth Israel Hospital.

The suspect was later apprehended after trying to outrun an officer who tried to question him. Police say officers found a silver-colored revolver in the suspect's possession. The man was identified as Elliot Morales, 33, of Manhattan, NBCNewYork.com reported. Police said Morales had an arrest for attempted murder in 1998, NBCNewYork.com reported.

The police are seeking to question two unidentified men who were said to have been with him earlier in the evening, law enforcement officials said.

The suspect had a separate encounter at a West Village restaurant earlier in the evening, police say. A manager and bouncer at the restaurant said the suspect made anti-gay comments and threats, NBC New York reported.

“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,” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said in a statement on Saturday.

“There was a time in New York City when hate crimes were a common occurrence,” the mayoral hopeful said. “We refuse to go back to that time. This kind of shocking and senseless violence, so deeply rooted in hate, has no place in a city whose greatest strength will always be its diversity."

Sharon Stapel of the New York City Anti-Violence Project said in a statement she was “deeply disturbed” by the shooting.

Police said that a gay couple was attacked in a separate incident on May 10 near Madison Square Garden and severely beaten. One of the victims later required eye surgery. Another gay couple was assaulted by a group of men only days before in the same midtown area of the city.

"New York has seen a shocking increase in hate crime in recent weeks," Assembly Member Deborah Glick said. "We must stand together as one city and declare that New York is not open for bigotry."

CLEVELAND —An Ohio Amish sect leader was sentenced on Friday to 15 years in federal prison for his leadership role in beard- and hair-cutting attacks on members of other Amish communities in 2011.

Prosecutors had recommended a life sentence for Samuel Mullet Sr., 67, who was convicted of a hate crime in September for orchestrating attacks carried out on six Amish men and two women, though he was not present for any of them.

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Fifteen of Mullet's followers in the breakaway Amish sect from Bergholz, Ohio, who were also convicted of multiple counts of conspiracy and kidnapping under federal hate crimes laws received lesser prison sentences on Friday.

"There is no doubt that Mullet wanted, agreed with and encouraged all of these attacks," prosecutors said in a court filing.

Mullet and members of his Bergholz, Ohio, community were convicted of multiple counts under the Federal Hate Crime statute, including conspiracy and kidnapping for attacks prosecutors said were motivated by religious disputes between Mullet and other Amish leaders.

The Amish are known for their plain dress and shunning of technology. Amish women and married Amish men do not cut their hair or beards, because they are symbols of living a religious life.

Victims of the attack testified they were restrained and had their hair forcibly cut using scissors, clippers, shears and battery-operated razors. The followers then brought the beard and head hair back to show Mullet.

Defense attorneys disputed the nature and seriousness of the crimes, arguing that the attacks were a result of personal, not religious, disputes and that the offenses do not deserve the lengthy sentences proposed by the government.

The defense's arguments for leniency included numerous letters from family and business acquaintances telling of the hardships the Bergholz community has endured without the seven adult men during the winter.

One Mullet supporter wrote, "The picture the rest of the world is trying to paint of him is not the Samuel Mullet I know."

An attorney for defendant Lester Miller told the court the defendants' children will be most affected by the loss of their parents -- since sons in Amish communities serve as apprentices to their fathers.

Prosecutors also submitted 14 handwritten letters from members of the Amish community expressing fear for Bergholz community children and supporting a lengthy or life sentence for Mullet.

Nine of the male defendants are currently in prison, while one male and all six female defendants have remained free.

JACKSON, Miss. -- Another white man has pleaded guilty to a hate crime charge in the death of a black man who was run over by a pickup truck in Mississippi.

Three other white men have already pleaded guilty to hate crime charges in the death of James Craig Anderson, who was beaten and then run over in Jackson on June 26, 2011.

None of the men have been sentenced. 

William Montgomery pleaded guilty Tuesday during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Jackson to two hate crime counts -- one involving the fatal rundown of Anderson and the other involving the assault of another black man, who was not identified in court documents. In addition, Jonathan Gaskamp pleaded guilty to two hate crime counts in the assault of the unidentified black man.

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In March, Deryl Dedmon, 19,  pleaded guilty to state murder and hate crime charges in Mississippi  for running over Anderson. He received two life sentences on the state charges.  

In the federal case, Dedmon, John Aaron Rice and Dylan Butler each admitted to conspiracy and violating the 2009 federal hate-crimes law, according to federal prosecutors. They face sentences of up to life in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Dedmon admitted in court that he and a group of white teens were partying in Puckett, a small town outside Jackson, when he suggested they find a black man to harass, federal prosecutors said.

The group reportedly went to Jackson because of its majority-black population. They found Anderson outside a hotel, where he was beaten before Dedmon ran over him. Anderson was a 47-year-old worker at a car plant. 

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Updated at 6:00 p.m. ET: Four U.S. Marines were arrested after allegedly assaulting a gay man outside a bar in southern California, and the attack was being investigated as a possible hate crime, police said.

The victim, a film student from San Dimas, blacked out from being beaten early Monday morning outside the popular Silver Fox bar in Long Beach, Calif., where he had gone with his boyfriend, CBSLA.com reported. He was hospitalized overnight and released with non-life threatening injuries, Long Beach Police Cmdr. Joe Stilinovich told NBC News on Wednesday afternoon.

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The Marines were arrested for assault and charged with a hate crime, among other charges, though it will ultimately be up to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to determine what charges will be pursued, Stilinovich said. Names of the suspects won’t be released until charges are formally filed.

“We are out seeking additional witnesses at this time and conducting a thorough investigation to ensure that the appropriate charges are presented to the district attorney’s office,” he said, adding that authorities were trying to determine the role each suspect played in the assault. When asked what made the attack a potential hate crime, he said: “During the course of the assault and prior to the assault, statements were made by the suspect (and/or suspects), derogatory statements, regarding the victim’s sexual orientation.”

The Marines were out on bail and have returned to their units, a Marine Corps' spokesman told NBC News. They came into the bar late Sunday or early Monday. One of them allegedly made derogatory remarks to the man, according to media reports.

"You could tell by the tone of his voice that he [the Marine] was uncomfortable. He was making a demeaning remark," Silver Fox Manager John Barnes told the Press-Telegram on Tuesday, adding that the alleged attacker had called the victim “sweetheart.”

The victim, who told CBS that he did not want to be identified out of concern for his safety, said the assault occurred outside the bar. Witnesses said the men used homophobic slurs, the television station reported.

“He starts pushing me and calling me f–,” the victim said, noting that he later blacked out.

Two people who tried to help the victim were also attacked but either were not hurt or had only minor injuries, police spokeswoman Nancy Pratt said late Tuesday in a statement.

“Based on the preliminary investigation, it was determined that an assault had occurred to a male adult by several male suspects after they had left the establishment,” she said. “The Long Beach Police Department is handling this case and are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.”

The Marine Corps learned of the attack on Tuesday and was performing its own inquiry as well as cooperating with police, Maj. Manuel Delarosa, a spokesman for the Marines, said early Wednesday.

The Marines, based at Camp Pendleton in southern California, were in their first enlistment, he said, adding that the attack was an isolated incident and that last year's repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy hadn't come up as an issue.

"This is behavior that's not acceptable in the Marine Corps," Delarosa said. "Any crimes of intolerance are unacceptable and not tolerated as far as behavior expected of a United States Marine."

Stilinovich said the department tracked local hate crime incidents, which had reached a low of five last year in the past decade. Excluding Monday’s alleged attack, there have been two such incidents this year, he said.

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Prosecutors will begin arguing their case Tuesday in the federal hate-crime trial of an Amish leader and 15 followers accused of forcibly cutting the beards or hair of their religious enemies last fall. 

A jury was selected on Monday for the case being heard in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, The Associated Press reported. 

Samuel J. Mullet Sr. and his co-defendants, all but one of them relatives, face charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, hate crimes and obstruction, "because of actual or perceived religion" of the victims, according to an affadavit.

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Sixteen men and women are accused in three separate attacks on nine people. Mullet, 66, is accused of being the ringleader of the assaults although authorities say he was not present during any of them, according to Reuters.

Prosecutors will seek to show that Mullet had cult leader-like control over the members of the  Amish clan who allegedly engaged in the attacks. 

Some of the alleged victims are parents of some of the suspects, highlighting a bitter dispute within the Amish community, which is normally known for its pacifism.

Federal prosecutors say the attacks were revenge in a dispute between Mullet — leader  of a group of Amish in Bergholz, Ohio, that had separated from the larger Amish community 17 years ago — and other Amish bishops, according to an FBI affadavit.

Read the affidavit

A gathering of 300 mainstream Amish overturned Mullet’s decision to excommunicate eight families after they left his clan in 2005, prompting Mullet and his followers to launch the attacks, the affidavit said.

In the forcible cutting of the victims’ hair and beards with 8-inch horse mane-cutting shears, some of the victims were wounded and bloodied, the affidavit said. 

In Amish culture, men’s beard hair and women’s head hair have religious significance.

If convicted, Mullet could get life in prison, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. 

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Updated at 7:58 p.m. ET: A Nebraska woman who claimed she was the victim of a horrific hate crime in July and subsequently charged with making false claims to police pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge Tuesday.

Police in Lincoln, Neb., who spent weeks investigating the case, arrested Charlie Rogers Tuesday for making a false report. Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said a judge issued the warrant for her arrest earlier Tuesday.

Rogers, 33, of Lincoln, pleaded not guilty to the charge and was released on a personal recognizance bond after a brief court appearance Tuesday afternoon.

Her lawyer, Brett McArthur, said she maintains that the attack happened, according to The Associated Press.

Rogers told police three men wearing black ski masks broke into her home during the early morning hours on July 22, bound her wrists and ankles with zip ties, beat her and carved anti-gay slurs into her arms and abdomen.

Rogers also alleged the men spray painted homophobic slurs inside the home and poured gasoline around the house before lighting it on fire.

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Rogers said she was bound and naked when she escaped and managed to knock on a neighbor’s door at about 4 a.m. July 22.

Police said they interviewed Rogers on four separate occasions. Because of inconsistencies in her various accounts of the attack and forensic DNA evidence, a warrant was issued for her arrest.

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“A great deal of time and resources were spent investigating Charlie Rogers’ claims in hopes of identifying and arresting the three suspects in this case,” Lincoln Police said in a statement. “As the investigation progressed and additional interviews were completed, the department received results from forensic analysts and experts making it apparent that the physical evidence conflicted with Charlie Rogers’ version of events.”

Also puzzling was that Rogers wrote on Facebook on July 18 what they believe is a motive for faking the attack, according to The Associated Press: "So maybe I am too idealistic, but I believe way deep inside me that we can make things better for everyone. I will be a catalyst. I will do what it takes. I will. Watch me." 

There was no apparent struggle in the room where Rogers, a former University of Nebraska basketball star, said she was attacked on her bed, the warrant for her arrest says, which also described the bedspread as appearing “neat” and “evenly placed on the bed.”

“There was no apparent blood on the bedspread; even though Ms. Rogers reported she was rolled on to her stomach after she had been cut on her arms, abdomen, chest and front legs while being held down.”

Forensic tests of Rogers’ bedding at the University of Nebraska Medical Center found no traces of blood.

Additionally, the FBI sent photos of the cuts on Rogers to a coroner’s physician for Lancaster County, who consulted with Dr. Michelle Elieff, a forensic pathologist. According to the warrant, Elieff said Rogers’ cuts appeared to be self-inflicted.

“This opinion is based partially on the fact that the cuts appeared to be superficial and symmetrical, avoided sensitive areas of the body, appear that they would have taken considerable time to do and are accessible to the victim and follow the victim’s frame of reference for reading and writing.”

Elieff also noted Rogers had no bruising, even though she alleged the men beat her.

Police also found a pile of clothes, a pair of white knit gloves and a red box cutter on the living room floor. Rogers said the gloves did not belong to her, but DNA testing determined she was the “major contributor” of DNA inside of them, according to the warrant.

Investigators discovered that the gloves, zip ties, blades and a red utility knife were purchased five days before the alleged attack at a hardware store in Lincoln. During an interview, Rogers told police she shops at that store.

Police showed a clerk from the store a photo lineup and the clerk identified Rogers as the person who bought the items, the arrest warrant says. 

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Police said that they also discovered graffiti spray painted on the basement walls after Rogers told the initial responding officer about it the morning of her alleged attack. But in a subsequent interview with Rogers, police said she did not know anything about the graffiti because she left her house immediately after the attack, the arrest warrant said.

News of the alleged attack sparked multiple vigils attended by thousands of gay-rights supporters who donated money in support of Rogers in cities throughout Nebraska.

At the time, Rogers said she would not attend the vigils because she was in hiding and wouldn’t speak publicly about the details of her attack for fear of influencing the police investigation.

But after a week, police said they had found no suspects, leading some to question whether Rogers made it all up.

On July 27, Rogers gave an interview to KETV in Omaha,  saying she decided to make her name and face public to counter those skeptical that the attack ever happened.

“I understand that people sort of have a hard time wrapping their heads around the things that have happened, as do I,” Rogers said. “But I’m a person with feelings, with concerns. For people to think that this doesn’t happen here, it does. It did.”

If convicted, Rogers could face up to one year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine, the Lancaster County Attorney’s office said.

A statement about Rogers by the City of Lincoln Police Department noted the city investigates 120,000 cases every year.

"A relatively small fraction is later determined to be false," it said. "This case will not impact our trust of crime victims. Criminal incidents, especially hate crimes, are unique and viewed as such. We do not want crime victims to hesitate reporting in the future."

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A 22-year-old man who claimed he was badly beaten outside a downtown Missoula, Mont., bar because he is gay actually sustained his facial injuries trying to do a backflip on a sidewalk, police say.

Joseph Baken of Billings, Mont., was charged with filing a false police report after a video obtained by police and the Missoula Independent newspaper cast doubt on his story.

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On Tuesday, Baken pleaded guilty in Missoula Municipal Court to the false report charge. He was given a 180-day suspended jail sentence and fined $300, according to the Independent.

Baken initially reported to police that he was attacked early Sunday morning by three men outside the Missoula Club, where he said he had gone to celebrate his 22^nd birthday, after asking patrons about the location of a gay bar, according to local media reports.

Pictures of his badly bruised face quickly circulated on the Internet and were displayed on the Wipe Out Homophobia Facebook page and other sites. Gay-rights activists expressed outrage at what they thought was a gay-bashing hate crime.

But Baken’s story began to fall apart after the Independent and the Missoula Police Department obtained what appears to be cellphone video footage that shows Baken trying to do a backflip on a sidewalk in Missoula. He falls short during the landing, smacking his face against the sidewalk.

“Video evidence taken by unidentified sources was examined and demonstrates that Joseph Baken caused injury to himself by attempting a backward somersault and striking his head on the sidewalk at about 2:30 AM on Higgins Avenue,” Lt. Scott Brodie said in a statement.

“Joseph Baken was contacted by Missoula police detectives and during a subsequent interview he admitted that the alleged assault against him did not occur as it was reported,” Brodie said.

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The decision to charge Baken with filing a false report “was due in part to the sense of fear and anger that quickly developed after Baken had identified a specific business and possible suspects in his allegations,” Brodie said.

Baken could not be reached by NBCNews.com for comment on Thursday. A phone call to a listing for Joseph Baken in Billings went unanswered.

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Baken was a featured background player in the 2011 film "Judas Kiss," billed as "an offbeat contemporary drama on a college campus alive with magical realism."

Carlos Pedraza, "Judas Kiss" writer-producer, had posted the picture of Baken's battered face on the movie's website along with news of the alleged attack. In a follow-up blog post on Tuesday, Pedraza said:

"As a journalist, I can now see the initial report raised questions that should have been followed up on before this case rose to the level of national attention that it has (e.g., Towleroad and Huffington Post). As a person who wanted to believe his friend, I admit my bias: I glossed over these questions because I wanted to support my friend. But reporters shouldn’t have.

I posted the news based on press reports and on the fact that a friend and cast member had been hurt. I stand by that decision because anti-gay violence is all too common, and whether this report is true doesn’t change that. Even though the report was false, it doesn’t lessen the value of the offers of support many people had asked me to relay. I am heartened by their stand that such violence is wrong and should be prosecuted."

 

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A woman in Nebraska says she was tied up and mutilated in what many are calling a hate crime, according to local reports.

Police in Lincoln, Neb., are investigating the case of a 33-year-old woman who told police three men wearing ski masks broke into her home early Sunday, bound her wrists and ankles with zip ties, beat her and carved anti-gay slurs into her arms and abdomen.

The men also allegedly spray painted a derogatory term for lesbians inside the home and poured gasoline around the house before lighting it with a match. The fire caused no noticeable damage to the house, a city fire inspector said.

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The woman said she managed to escape and knocked on a neighbor’s door for help.

“My neighbor was standing there, and she had no clothes on,” Linda Rappl, 68, told NBC affiliate WOWT in Omaha, Neb. “Her hands had been tied with zip ties, and the first thing I saw was blood running down her face.”

Rappl said the sobbing woman had cuts all over her torso, arms and face. Rappl said she brought her neighbor inside and wrapped her in a blanket before calling 911.

Police officials said they wouldn't offer many details concerning the investigation, citing the need to maintain the integrity of the case, but Lincoln police spokeswoman Katie Flood told the Lincoln Journal Star that investigators have no suspects.

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Tyler Richard, president of Outlinc, a nonprofit organization for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community in Lincoln, told NBC News that the woman lives openly as a lesbian.

On Sunday night, more than 500 people held a vigil outside the state Capitol, organized by friends of the woman, many of whom are part of the LGBT community.

Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler and others denounced the attack as a hate crime.

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“Hate crimes are despicable and appalling to me and to all Lincoln residents,” Beutler said in a statement. “Lincoln strives to be a community that embraces tolerance and equality. We stand united with our gay and lesbian citizens in denouncing violence directed at any group.”

“There were things carved on her body that can only be described as hate that somebody can only be taught and we need to stop teaching it,” a friend of the woman’s told WOWT.

Richard told NBC News that Outlinc has full faith in the Lincoln Police Department, citing the agency’s long history of support for the city's LGBT community.

The attack in Lincoln happened about two months after Lincoln officials approved a measure to protect gay and transgendered residents from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. 

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A Colorado couple says they are the victims of a hate crime because someone stole a “VOTE SATAN” sign from their front porch, but police say the incident sounds more like simple theft.

Luigi and Angie Bellaviste describe themselves as Satanists who belong to the Church of Satan, an organization “dedicated to the acceptance of man’s true nature – that of a carnal beast.” They believe whoever cut down the fabric sign from the porch of their home in Mountain View, a suburb of Denver, was targeting them because of their religious beliefs.

“I feel like we’re being treated unfairly because it’s not a so-called mainstream religion,” Luigi Bellaviste told CBS4 in Denver.

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“I know of people that have the Virgin Mary in their yard and tons of Jesus, Love Jesus, I Love Jesus. What’s the difference?” added Angie Bellaviste.

The couple reported the red, white and blue sign stolen on Saturday.

Police contacted neighbors but nobody saw anything. Other items on the couple’s property, including a black Christmas tree, were left untouched.

“Had that been the Star of David or a verse from the Quran or something like that that got damaged by somebody against those beliefs, that certainly wold have been considered a hate crime,” Luigi Bellaviste told CBS4.

But Mountain View Police Cmdr. Mark Nicastle said there was nothing to indicate the couple was targeted for their religious beliefs.

“There was no other indication of threats or evidence left behind that somebody was after him because of his worship or anything like that,” Nicastle told msnbc.com on Tuesday.

He said police were treating the crime as simple theft, with the value of the sign estimated at $20.

Police have no suspects.

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