‘I Hate You Damned Gays I’m Going to Kill You All Here’ Suspect Reportedly Said Before Shooting

A 22-year old man is dead and a suspect is in custody after a tragic shooting at a Florida restaurant. According to the Palm Beach Post police have arrested 48-year oldÂ Nelson Hernandez Mena after he allegedly shot and killedÂ Juan Javier Cruz in Lake Worth.

“I hate you damned gays I’m going to kill you all here,” Mena allegedly said before opening fire, according to police citing one witness.Â “If we were in my country I’d kill all of you like rats,” he said, according to another.

The Post reports witnesses say Cruz was “murdered for defending gay friends.”

Mena said he didn’t intend to hurt anyone, even though he remembers pulling out a gun and shooting. The man who was shot and died reportedlyÂ was not the intended target.

“The victim who survived the gunshots believes Hernandez Mena became angry when he got the phone number of one of Mena’s friend [sic] and that he was targeted because he is gay, according to the police report,” local Fox affiliate WFLXÂ reports. “When questioned later Hernandez Mena said that he was very drunk and had consumed 15 to 20 beers, according to the affidavit.”

He claimed once he left the restaurant a groupÂ of guys started attacking and threatening him and that he remembers pulling out a gun and pulling the trigger but the man who died was not his intended target, the report states. Mena was arrested on charges of first-degree murder with a firearm, attempted first-degree murder with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm.Â

Hernandez Mena “was arrested on charges of first-degree murder with a firearm, attempted first-degree murder with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm,” WPTV reports.

“This was the 71st murder in Palm Beach County this year and the fourth in Lake Worth,” theÂ Palm Beach Post notes.

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