Straight teen arrested after smashing iconic front window of Stonewall Inn
The teen reportedly vandalized the bar after getting kicked out by staff
A straight teenager has been arrested for smashing a window at the historic Stonewall Inn.
William Gomez, 19, was with co-workers at the New York City gay bar on July 7 when he was thrown out by a bouncer due to belligerence, authorities said.
Around 4:30 a.m., the teen reportedly returned with a baseball bat and smashed the bar’s front window, shattering it and breaking parts of the neon sign behind the glass. The attack caused almost $7,000 worth of damage.
Gomez was charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief after police arrested him near the crime scene. His arraignment was held Saturday evening in Manhattan Criminal Court and he was freed soon after.
Sources told New York Daily News said that Gomez is not facing any hate crime charges, as the vandalism does not seem to be motivated by its importance in LGBTQ history.
Gomez’s mother said her son is not gay, and was ejected from the bar after trying to stop an employee from bothering one of his co-workers.
“He said that a bodyguard was messing with one of his co-workers and he told him to stop,” his mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “He then thought the conversation was over but at one point he was punched in the face.”
“He’s a quiet boy,” she added. “He doesn’t get into trouble.”
According to NYDN Gomez was arrested last year for an assault in Brooklyn, charged with criminal impersonation in 2015, and arrested in 2014 for a robbery charge.
Long considered the birthplace of the LGBTQ rights movement, the Stonewall Inn was the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which saw LGBTQ people and police clash after an attempted raid. In 2016, President Obama declared the Inn a national monument — the first such national monument to commemorate LGBTQ rights.
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