Three men are facing hate-crime charges after allegedly throwing rocks into a gay bar, injuring two men, police said.
According to witnesses, one man held open the door to Robert's Lafitte bar Sunday night while the other two hurled two rocks, one of them weighing 4 pounds, into the bar. The rocks were apparently being used as doorstops.
A 57-year-old man was treated at a hospital for a gash on the back of his head. Another man was hit in the jaw but refused treatment.
Witnesses chased the three men and provided descriptions to police. The arrests were made after a neighborhood sweep, police said.
Lawrence Lewis III, 20; his brother Lawrneil Lewis, 18; and Alejandro Sam Gray, 17, all of Galveston, were being held Tuesday on aggravated assault charges. Bond was set at $120,000 each.
The district attorney's office authorized a hate crime "enhancement" to the charges because the intent was to randomly assault the victims based on their sexual preference, police spokesman Lt. D.J. Alvarez told The Galveston County Daily News.
The hate crime designation allows a second-degree assault charge to be elevated to a first-degree offense, increasing the potential sentence, Alvarez said.
No information was available on whether the suspects had attorneys, a jail official said.