Animal of a Guy (Grindr) Charged with Hate Crime After Brutally BeatingGay Man
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| Springfield where there was a needless attack on a gay man |
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – A Springfield man is accused of targeting a gay man using Grindr and brutally beating him after meeting in person.
Daniel Andrew McGee, 22, has been charged with a federal hate crime in connection with the incident, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The criminal complaint alleges that McGee tried to kill the victim due to his sexual orientation.
Court documents indicate that McGee used the popular social media app designed for gay men to talk to the victim, and the two reportedly agreed to meet on July 5. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said McGee entered the victim’s apartment and hit him in the head with a wooden club over a period of several minutes, even as the victim pleaded for him to stop. The victim sustained life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital.
In the weeks leading up to the attack, McGee allegedly watched violent anti-gay attacks online and used the internet to purchase the weapon. Officials also said he searched how to get away with murder.
The victim's neighbor, Lucas Einhorn, told KEZI he was about to go to sleep when he heard what sounded like a fridge being thrown across the room and screams that sounded like nothing he's ever heard before.
"Screaming that kinda turned into what sounded like begging, pleading for life sounds, and trying not to be too graphic, it was one of those things where I didn't have too much time to consider whether this might be a misinterpretation on my part. It was one of those things that hit my instincts and told me immediately that this was not good, this was mortal, this was dangerous," Einhorn said.
The victim's injuries were so bad that an area of about four to five inches on the back of his scalp was missing.
Einhorn said he was thankful to be there because he later found out that none of the other neighbors had heard anything.
The arrest was shocking news for one of McGee's former classmates, Lydia Edwards.
"In school, he was always quiet, never made eye contact with anyone, always kept to himself, never really involved himself in any of the school projects," Edwards said.
She told KEZI it's incredibly hard to hear.
"He never talked to anybody, so seeing that he did this, it's like, wow, you never really know someone," Edwards said.
Einhorn said he's learned so much from this incident, especially how the victim is reacting.
"What really shook me was days after this had happened, he'd been released from the hospital, he was in a better mood than anyone else in the building. He is just one of those people that by force and to great result takes the positive in every situation. He has a lot of gratitude instead of resentment," Einhorn said.
He said the situation has even brought everyone in the complex closer together.
"It really comes down to a choice; we all could have moved, especially the victim. But we all decided to just stay here and have closer contact with each other. We have all grown in terms of communicating," Einhorn said.
The FBI arrested McGee on Nov. 15, and he made his first appearance in federal court. Officials said the FBI worked with the Eugene Police Department to investigate.
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