Police in Austin, Texas have arrested Frank Macias and Miguel Macias, Kolby Monnell, and Quinn O'Connor in connection with the brutal January 19 attack on gay couple Spencer Deehring and Tristan Perry.
Deehring told KXAN that they were attacked near 7th Street and Red River Street by a man and the man's friends after being called a homophobic slur.
Said Deehring: “They started following behind us pretty closely yelling every expletive you can think of. The last thing I said to one of the guys before they attacked both of us was like, ‘I don't have anything more to say to you guys, we're just going home, leave us alone.'”
Deehring was beaten unconscious and Perry had his nose broken and was kicked hard in the back of the head. Both were hospitalized after a bystander called 911.
Macias was arrested on Tuesday morning and faces two counts of second-degree felony aggravated assault.
Officials were able to identify that Miguel Macias, the brother of Frank, had matching forearm tattoos as the man fleeing the scene of the attack. Frank is charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated assault.
Kolby Monnell was also discovered via Instagram, and is also charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated assault.
O'Connor is charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated assault.
Police are crediting the Crimestoppers line and an $11,000 reward pooled by several Austin businesses for leading to the arrests.
Prosecutors are still considering hate crime charges.
KXAN reports: ‘Prosecutor Beth Payan with the Travis County District Attorney's office and a member of the Hate Crimes Task Force told KXAN a proven hate crime finding on top of any charge would increase the sentencing range of the crime. In general terms, a second-degree aggravated assault charge, if convicted, has a punishing range of two to 20 years in prison. If a hate crime finding was successfully proven on top of that, the sentencing range would increase to five to 99 years in prison. “There are certain circumstances where a type of probation, if eligible, might apply,” she said. ‘
