Katrease Stafford

Detroit Free Press

A 20-year-old man has been charged in connection with a viral video he allegedly posted of himself last Tuesday shouting gay slurs and pointing a gun at another man he believed was gay as he exited a convenience store on Detroit's west side.

Stephen Drake Edwards, 20 and of Detroit, was charged Sunday in the felonious assault of an unidentified 23-year-old Detroit man. Edwards was charged with felonious assault, carrying a‎ concealed weapon in a motor vehicle and felony firearm, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.

Edwards is expected to be arraigned today in the 34th District Court in Romulus.

►Related: Detroit Police arrest man pointing gun at another man, using gay slurs

►Related: Viral video: Man points gun, fires gay slurs at man in Detroit​

According to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, the assault happened at 3 p.m. in the 22000 block of Lyndon.

The 32-second video was initially posted at 8:16 p.m. Tuesday and shows Edwards sitting in a car at the Brightmoor Liquor store uttering gay slurs. When the victim walks out of the convenience store, the man in the car shouts "Yo" at him to get his attention. The man ignores him initially, but as he passes the window of the car, the man in the car points a gun at him at the 22-second mark of the video while saying, "Take those pants off, bro. What the f--k you on?"

​The unidentified victim appears momentarily startled before quickly walking away.

Last week, Detroit Police Sgt. Michael Woody called the incident "very troubling" and said police were actively investigating the incident. Edwards turned himself into police Saturday, after posting a video on Periscope apologizing to the LGBT community and blaming his actions on being under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

The video, which was initially shared from Twitter account @Binswanson and first reported by Blac Detroit, was shared more than 2,300 times and re-tweeted more than 2,300 times, before the account owner removed it Wednesday evening.

The @Binswanson account posted a live Periscope video Wednesday on Twitter confirming he brandished the gun at the man, took questions from Periscope users and said more gay slurs. Many Twitter users blasted the man for sharing the video. Others laughed and congratulated him for what he did.

Stephanie White, executive director of Equality Michigan, said the video and incident were both extremely disturbing to members of the LGBTQ community.

"It's always disappointing and sad," White said. "We see a variety of incidents like this, but this is more hostile. Last year, we helped over 100 people all over the state who had been victims. We see the whole gamut — from a high school student in Detroit who was bullied by his principal to the murder of three trans people in 2015. I mean I'm glad the police said they were investigating and clearly there are laws against threatening people and pointing guns at people. But unfortunately, what we don't have in Michigan is hate crime laws that cover this kind of threat against LGBT people."

This incident came on the heels of an announcement last week from Detroit Police Chief James Craig and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy of a new initiative that will solely investigate crimes against the LGBTQ community, including the recent slaying of a well-known Detroit transgender woman who was a local activist.

Fair Michigan Justice Project (FMJP) was launched by Fair Michigan, a Michigan nonprofit group, and is slated to assist Michigan police and prosecutors in solving serious crimes against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

FMJP will investigate and prosecute new and cold homicide cases, criminal sexual conduct, carjacking, armed robbery, assault with intent to murder and other crimes involving LGBTQ victims who were targeted based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Worthy said Tuesday her office has 12 cases involving the LGBT community and of that number, six are "brutal homicides," two are criminal sexual conduct cases, two are kidnapping, one is unlawful use and the last is assault with intent to murder.

Contact Katrease Stafford: kstafford@freepress.com or 313-223-4759.