32-year-old gay health food store owner Joe Williams, is too scared to go out in public after police say he was beaten unconscious, robbed of $1,500 and was left with a three letter homophobic slur (f#g) written on his forehead in marker as his store was set on fire.

“I just fear for my life,” Williams said. “I’m to the point now where I’m worried to even go outside.”

Paris police say as three men beat the man they called him defamatory names at closing time Wednesday night. The victim told police he awoke to see two of the men pouring gas on the floor and started a fire in the store.

The Paris Fire Department estimated the fire caused about $5,500 in damages.

“I live my life as a gay man and wasn’t ashamed of it and I just feel that I was targeted for that for that reason,” he said.

“I don’t know if it was because of the robbery aspect or the sexual orientation of the individual that was accosted and that bothers me,” said Cloy, an insurance clerk at a local clinic in Paris.

Williams runs Healthy Thyme, a family-owned business that’s been serving families in Paris, Tennessee for 15 years.

According to The Paris Post Intelligencer:



The worker told Paris Police Sgt. Michael Ramos a man had come into the building through the employee entrance asking for something to help his daughter, who was sick. The employee suggested a product and had reached down to get it when the man began beating him, the report indicated. The report indicated two other men, both wearing ski masks and black jackets, joined the first man in hitting the victim. The victim told officers these other men must have turned out the lights when they entered the building. The victim told officers he was hit until he lost consciousness. When he woke up, he said that he saw the men pouring gasoline near the front of the building. A milk jug that had contained the gas was found by officers near the cash register. The report indicated the victim barricaded himself in the store’s office, but then went next door to call police when he saw the robbers leave the business, running toward Blythe Street. The employee also told officers that a man had come to the business earlier that day and asked him about his sexual preference. The report indicated the man had told the worker he could not shop at the store if the man was homosexual. During the time the men were beating the worker, the employee told officers he was being called derogatory names, the report stated.



Police say one of the suspects was described as about 6-feet tall and 200 pounds.

He had short brown hair, brown eyes and a goatee.

Watch as Williams speaks out for the first time below:

