Atlanta police continue to search for a group of men who fired gunshots at several gay men standing outside of WETbar in the early hours of Oct. 19.

A 28-year-old gay man was grazed by a bullet that ricocheted off of WETbar during the drive-by shooting, but he was not seriously injured, according to Officer Darlene Harris, LGBT liaison for the Atlanta Police Department.

“The investigator hasn’t released anything yet,” Harris said Tuesday, adding that there is no average length of time for investigations to be complete. “It really depends on the leads, so you really can’t tell.

“It seems like this [shooting] has a lot of leads,” Harris added.

The shooting victim — whose name is being withheld because attempts to contact him at his home were unsuccessful — was one of 400 people who passed through WETbar’s doors Thursday night, Oct. 18. The popular gay dance club was hosting its weekly “College Night” as well as the closing party for the gay "Out on Film" festival, according to WETbar general manager Krystee Manifold.

After WETbar closed at 3 a.m., the victim and a friend went next door to the Chevron gas station located on the corner of 10th and Spring streets, where other gay patrons were already inside, according to Harris. Shortly after the men arrived inside the convenience store, a tan Chevy Blazer carrying three men pulled into the gas station.

One of the men appeared to be intoxicated, and began harassing customers and complaining about the number of gay people inside the gas station, Harris said.
 

‘Definitely a hate crime’

“I don’t understand why there are so many faggots here,” the man said, according to Harris.

As the three men returned to the tan Chevy Blazer, the shooting victim and his friend left Chevron and walked past WETbar.

“As the victims were walking past the WETbar, the SUV drove up to them, again shouted slurs at the victims, and the suspect fired four to five times at the victims,” according to an APD incident report.

Although Georgia has no hate crimes law (see related story, this page), the Atlanta Police Department annually reports the number of hate crimes in the city to the FBI. The APD is investigating the WETbar shooting as an anti-gay incident.

“This is definitely a hate crime because of what was yelled at the victims,” Harris said.

Chevron surveillance cameras captured images of the vehicle and shooter, who is described as a black male, about six-feet-three-inches tall, weighing between 210-230 pounds and wearing a teal shirt and jeans with teal coloring on them.

“They’re working off the surveillance video and the witness statements,” Harris said of APD officers investigating the case. The shooting victim was transported to a local hospital, released the same day, and is recovering nicely, Harris said.

“I spoke to the victim and he’s doing better, and he is in good spirits,” Harris said.

Jason Davis, 34, was inside WETbar when the gunshots rang out, and said he knows the shooting victim.

"He's a real nice guy," said Davis, who estimated that no more than 50 people were still at the club at the time of the shooting. "It was pretty chaotic for a while."

WETbar regularly has off-duty police officers serving as security on weekends, but none were working the Thursday night before the shooting, said manager James Nelson. Interviewed at the club the night after the incident, Nelson emphasized that the conflict began at the Chevron station and that WETbar was simply in the background when the shooting occurred.

“It’s a shame that we still have to worry about this kind of thing,” Nelson said of anti-gay hate crimes.

The APD officer on duty Friday told Nelson and Manifold that she was the most popular person in WETbar, with everyone coming up to her and asking if she was all right, and wondering if she was present the night before.

Clark Hurst, 26, comes to WETbar about five nights a month, but wasn’t at the club when the shooting took place. Partying with friends Friday night, he was shocked to hear about the drive-by, but won’t let it deter him from going to WETbar or other gay clubs.

“You never think something like that would happen in Atlanta, especially Midtown,” Hurst said. “You wonder what people are really capable of doing when they don’t like a group of people.

“I mean, gunfire?” Hurst continued. “Why should anybody have to worry about being shot just for going to a club or hanging out with friends, just because some people don’t like gay people.”

Dyana Bagby contributed to this report.