TRENTON, N.J. (1010 WINS) — A Baltimore teen tried to kill a man inside a New Jersey park because he thought that he was gay, prosecutors said Thursday.
José Tobias Carranza Serrano, 18, was charged with first-degree attempted homicide, first-degree bias intimidation, first-degree robbery and second-degree aggravated assault on Wednesday in connection with the June attack, New Jersey’s Office of the Attorney General said in a press release.
Prosecutors said Carranza Serrano met his victim for the first time in North Hudson Park around 11 p.m. on June 21.
Not long after the two met, the Baltimore resident tried to kill the man “because he suspected the victim was gay,” the attorney general’s office said.
Carranza Serrano brutally attacked the man, punching and kicking his face so hard that he fractured several bones and knocked out several of the man’s teeth, according to prosecutors.
He also tried to strangle the man, prosecutors said. He fled the scene with the victim’s phone and $8 in cash after the attack, the release said.
A passerby found the man unconscious inside the park just before 5 a.m. the following day, according to the release.
“We will not tolerate violence targeting the LGBTQ+ community,” Acting Attorney General Andrew Bruck said in a statement. “There is simply no excuse for this type of hate, and we will ensure that those who engage in violence are held fully accountable for their actions.”
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