Four United States Marine Corps members from Southern California’s Camp Pendleton were arrested Monday night outside the Long Beach gay bar The Silver Fox after brutally beating a gay man and taunting him with homophobic slurs .

“You could hear the punches…it was bad,” Charlie Harris (pictured left) said.who was working in the bar and ran outside and tried to help fend off the attackers.

“You just saw fists, and muscles, and tattoos, and all those guys were on top of him,” said David, the victim’s boyfriend,

The Press Telegram reports:

Silver Fox Manager John Barnes told the Press-Telegram on Monday that the four men came into the bar late Sunday or early Monday and the primary culprit, who seemed visibly uncomfortable while at the bar, called Barnes “sweetheart.” “You could tell by the tone of his voice that he was uncomfortable, he was making a demeaning remark,” Barnes said. The attack occurred as the bar was closing, with the primary suspect punching a young gay man who was much smaller, Barnes said. Police were on scene within moments of the call, and the suspects were detained and arrested for assault. Two other people who came to the aid of the victim were also attacked. Only one of the victims was taken to the hospital with what police described as “non-life-threatening injuries.”

LBPD Violent Crimes Division detectives are investigating the incident as a “possible” hate crime attack. (POSSIBLE?)

You can watch CBS2’s News Report on this shocking attack by CLICKING HERE