Seattle police investigate hate crime at LGBTQ bar

Seattle police investigate hate crime outside Capitol Hill LGBTQ bar

Seattle police are searching for multiple people who yelled homophobic slurs and fired water beads at people outside an LGBTQ+ bar in Capitol Hill.

SEATTLE - Police are investigating reports of a hate crime outside an LGBTQ+ bar in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Witnesses say a vehicle made nearly a dozen loops around the bar in the area of East Madison Street and East Union Street, taunting and assaulting patrons outside on Wednesday, Feb. 19.

What they're saying:

"People inside the car were yelling anti-gay slurs at the patrons outside. The passengers of the car approached the bar on foot before returning to their vehicle to circle the block again," said a spokesperson with SPD.

In addition to yelling, someone hanging out of the car reportedly shot at patrons with a water bead gun just before 1 a.m. Witnesses say there were about a dozen people outside at the time.

A photo was captured of the suspect vehicle, which police say is a dark blue Lexus sedan with tinted windows, a loud engine and a white sticker that says "WRLD" on the back.

Suspect vehicle in Capitol Hill hate crime

Police are looking for suspects, described as either two or three young white men.

"Following the incident, officers were sent to other LGBTQ establishments in the area to alert them about what happened," SPD says.

What you can do:

Police are asking any additional victims and witnesses to please come forward.

Anyone with information about this incident, including photos and video, is asked to call the SPD Tip Line at (206) 233-5000 or email SPD_hatecrimes@seattle.gov.

This case is an open and active investigation and has been assigned to the Seattle police Bias Crimes Coordinator.

The Source: Information for this report comes from the Seattle Police Department and FOX 13 Seattle reporting.