Harrisburg Police are looking for two suspects after a man was left beaten and unconscious outside his home.
It happened around 3 a.m. Sunday morning. Bill Hursch was returning home when he saw a man standing by the side of his apartment, waiting for him.
The suspect somehow knew he was gay.
“The person came up to me and basically hit on me over and over again saying he wanted to go to my apartment with me,” says Hursch. “And I just said no no no.”
The suspect continued propositioning and said obscene things. Hursch didn’t want to go inside while he was still there. He also saw a woman standing by. He threatened to call police.
That’s the last thing he remembers. He woke up in the hospital with his eyes swollen shut.
He was missing his credit card and ID, but still had cash.
“I’ve lived in my neighborhood for 8 years, you know I don’t go screaming down the street but I’m sure people know I’m gay,” Hursch says. “I don’t understand why he would proposition me like that.”
His apartment was broken into two or three times in recent weeks. He told police and added a padlock- now he wonders if it angered the robber.
“It’s just unacceptable, it’s violence,” he says. “Violence whether it’s a hate crime or not, is just wrong.”
Hursch is moving out of the city.
Harrisburg Police are asking for the public’s help to solve the crime. The suspect is a man in his mid-20s, about 5’10, who was wearing a white baseball hat. The woman was in her mid-20s, near 6 feet, wearing pigtails.
Police say they need to investigate more to learn if this was a hate crime.