Tulsa - A Tulsa man says the people who attacked him did it because he is gay.

Brandon Patrick, 23, said he was leaving his apartment near 1300 S Rockford Ave. around 11:30pm Sunday to visit a friend nearby. He noticed a woman and two others out of the corner of his eye. She began yelling hateful comments at him.

According to a Tulsa Police report, the 45-year-old white female suspect was standing beside a car. Her remarks included homosexual slurs and shooting threats. Two other suspects, a white male between 19 and 22 years old and a white female between the same ages, were sitting inside the vehicle.

Patrick said he continued down Rockford Avenue, asking the woman to leave him alone. He said he did nothing to instigate the woman and made no efforts to start an incident.

"I just kept walking and didn't pay any attention like you are always taught to. Just brush it off, keep on going. Well, this time it didn't work," Patrick said.

A half a block from the group, Patrick heard the car, an early-90s Ford Mustang, screech to a stop behind him. That's when the male suspect got out and began punching him in the head. Patrick shoved the man off. Seconds later, the older female began attacking him. He kicked the blonde woman the chest, and began to run. The third suspect, a younger female, came from the vehicle with a small, kitchen-type knife.

He was tripped. All three were kicking and punching him on the ground. With a stab wound in his right knee and cuts by the knife on his head, Patrick said the attack ended with the younger female waving the knife in his face and saying that he had better leave.

The group left in the car. Patrick was able to get away call a friend for help.

"This was completely brutal, full of hate," remarked Patrick. "I could tell how hateful they were coming across just by the things they were saying and the way they said it."

Stitches and staples will leave scars, but Patrick said he's thankful to be alive after the incident.

The Tulsa native said he had walked in his neighborhood many times before without incident. If he saw them again, Patrick said he would be able to identify his attackers in an instant.

He was not robbed, yet the people took his hat. He feels the group's only reason for attacking had to do with his sexual orientation and outward appearance.

(NOTE: It was erroneously reported on KTUL.com and our 10:00 p.m. broadcast that Brandon Patrick's assailants were black. We double checked the facts with Tulsa Police and confirmed that all suspects are white. We apologize for the mistake.)

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