Photo: Tom Hawking

At 11:15pm on Monday night, Justin Rice, 40, was arguing loudly with his girlfriend at Bushwick’s HappyFun Hideaway, a neighborhood bar with many queer and trans staff and patrons. The bouncer kicked him out and Rice became violent, The New York Daily News and DNAinfo reports.



“I’m going to come back Orlando-style!” Rice yelled, referencing the hate crime at Orlando’s Pulse gay night club, the deadliest shooting in American history. “I’m going to shoot this place up and get my 50 just like Orlando, Florida.”

Rice then punched the 34-year-old bouncer and threw a metal bucket filled with sand at him, while screaming, “Fuck you faggots, fuck that faggot, I’ll kill you faggots!”

The bouncer suffered minor injuries but was able to restrain the man. HappyFun Hideaway staff tells Gawker they are unable to comment on the incident, as it is still under investigation, but everyone is safe and ok.

Rice was arrested and charged with attempted assault, aggravated harassment, making a terrorist threat and menacing as a hate crime. He is being held at Rikers, with bail set at $10,000. He’s due back in court on June 17.