Tag: Samuel Luiz

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Spain: 4th Suspect Arrested In Brutal Murder Of Samuel Luiz

Samuel Luiz (image via Facebook)

Samuel Luiz (image via Facebook)
Samuel Luiz (image via Facebook)
A fourth suspect has been arrested and charged in the murder of Samuel Luiz, a 24-year-old gay man in Spain. In a Twitter statement, the Policía Nacional announced the arrest of a man aged between 20 and 25. In addition to murder, he is charged with allegedly stealing the victim’s mobile phone. This comes after 3 A Coruña residents were arrested in connection with the death of Luiz on Wednesday. The deadly assault was perpetrated by more than a dozen people near a nightclub in the Galician city. The fourth suspect is apparently friends with the initial suspects, according La Vanguardia, a Spanish-speaking newspaper. None of the suspects knew the victim prior to the attack according to reports. The incident began when Luiz reportedly stepped out of the nightclub to video chat with a friend. The attacker apparently believed Luiz was recording him and demanded he stop – “Either stop recording or I’ll kill you, f*g,” yelled one of the attackers. After initially beating Luiz for a couple of minutes, the attacker left the scene but quickly returned with a mob of friends who all joined in kicking and beating Luiz. Surveillance footage captured the assault which stretched out for several blocks along the street until Luiz collapsed and passed out. Media reports say the video clips show the group continued to cheer the attack on as they continued to kick and beat him. Luiz died just hours later on Saturday at the A Coruña Hospital. A spokesman for the police told the press, “They showed him no mercy.”

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3 Arrested In Brutal Murder Of Young Gay Man In Spain

Samuel Luiz (image via Facebook)
Samuel Luiz (image via Facebook)
Protests have spread across the globe following the brutal murder of a young gay man in Spain at the hands of an anti-gay mob on July 3. Via The Guardian:

Samuel Luiz, a 24-year-old nursing assistant, was out with friends in the Galician city of A Coruña in the early hours of Saturday when an argument started outside a nightclub.

His friends told El Mundo that Luiz had stepped out of the club to make a video call when two passersby accused him of trying to film them on his phone. Luiz explained he was talking to a friend by video, but he was allegedly attacked by one of the passersby and left with a badly bruised face.

Five minutes later, the assailant allegedly returned with 12 others who beat Luiz unconscious. He was taken to hospital, where he died later on Saturday morning.

Fifteen people have reportedly given eyewitness accounts of the attack. Luiz’s friend, Vanessa, who he was video messaging with, was a virtual witness to the assault. “All we could hear were blows,” she told the media. This evening, Spain’s Policía Nacional announced three people between the ages of 20 and 25 had been arrested as “the alleged perpetrators of the violence assault that ended Samuel Luiz’s life.” The police statement went on to say more arrests could follow. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted his condolences to Luiz’s family calling the assault “a savage and ruthless act.”
Tweet by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (translation by Twitter)
More from Reuters:

People took to the streets of Spain’s biggest cities on Monday evening to express their anger at the death of a man in a suspected homophobic attack at the weekend.

Crowds filled a central Madrid square and activists marched down a major street in Barcelona, chanting slogans and waving placards and rainbow-coloured flags.

Interior Ministry data shows 278 hate crimes related to sexual orientation or gender identity were reported in Spain in 2019, an 8.6% increase on the previous year. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights warns only a fraction of hate crimes are reported to the police.

Protests in Spain over the death of Samuel Luiz (screen capture)