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Shocking Video: Man Pointing Gun Spouts Homophobic Slurs In Detroit

DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit police are investigating after a hate crime video recorded in the city went viral.

The short cell phone clip that shows a man pointing a gun at another man outside a liquor store under the title "I hate gay n-words" has nearly 3,000 re-tweets and thousands more favorites on Twitter.

While some applaud it, it sickening to others.

The video starts with a man inside a car, talking about how he hates "gay n-words" then he sees a friendly looking young man in a striped tank top, walk out the door and calls him over.

He points a handgun out the window at the man and repeats the phrase. The victim then scrambles away, clutching his lemonade, saying "I'm not even like that."

It happened outside the Brightmoor In and Out Liquor store on Lyndon on Detroit's northwest.

Sgt. Michael Woody says police have seen the video.

"Obviously this is very troubling," he told WWJ's Zahra Huber in an interview Wednesday. "Anytime a person would feel comfortable or brazen enough to point a weapon at an individual and then post it up on social media for everybody to see...it's very troubling."

"We can't have people committing those types of crimes; and then, on top of which, targeting persons of any class, regardless of how they identify. It's just unacceptable."

Brightmoor Liquor Twitter Gun Confrontation
Video screenshots

Woody said that pointing a gun at someone "absolutely" is illegal.

"Unfortunately the victim has not come forward to file a police report; however we did open a report on his behalf and we are currently investigating," Woody said.

While it's early in the investigation, Woody said the perpetrator could potentially face felonious assault and hate crimes charges.

"It's unfortunate that, in these times, you know — with all the things that are going on in our nation — that even on social media we just cannot seem to find even the slightest bit of decency," Woody said. "The intolerance that we are seeing today in this nation is just unacceptable, and we need to really come together to try and figure out a way to do better."

Woody said police are asking the victim or anyone who knows the victim to come forward. Anyone with information can call 313-596-2200.

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