Puerto Vallarta: Gay Man Shot While Holding His Husband's Hand In Public

(image via Facebook)

A Palm Springs couple vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, were the victims of a shooting incident in early morning hours early Saturday. The couple say the attack was a hate crime because they were holding hands.

From The Desert Sun:

At about 2:30 a.m., at the end of a night of dancing, Carl Blea and Marc Lange were holding hands and walking to the condo where they were staying, Lange said. As they passed through a plaza, a man standing nearby yelled something at them. Blea then noticed the man pull out a gun and tried to get himself and Lange to safety.

Lange, speaking by phone from a Puerto Vallarta hospital Sunday morning, said a bullet struck Blea below his right buttock and exited through his thigh. He said if Blea hadn't seen the gun and reacted so quickly, both of them might be dead.

The men believe the shooting was a targeted hate crime because they're gay. Lange called it "a random act of hatred." He said he's told police what happened multiple times.

According to Lange, the local media is reporting the incident as a botched robbery but he disputes that claim saying they never spoke to the man that shot them.

He believes the media is trying to downplay the shooting in an effort to protect tourism in the Mexican city.

In a post on Facebook, Lange added:

I post this only because there has been no local press or alerts made to the puerto Vallarta area.

Last night we were involved in nothing more than a hate crime.

Last night my husband and I were walking home hand in hand from an evening out in puerto Vallarta. As we cross the street walking into a well lite area, Cardenas Lazaro park, we pass a white car and a person who looked like he had done hard time in prison, wife beater and tattoos both face and body (circle tattoo on right side of face). As we walk pass him he shouts something. I turn to look and then turn away, Carl Blea looks and see this person pull out a gun which is now pointed at us. Carl begins to run and pulls me away from the shooter. A bullet is shot and Carl goes down. Shot. We have no idea what is happening. A concrete building separates us from the shooter. I scream for help..... someone finally helps, police arrive, 45 min later the ambulance arrives.

This person was there for no other reason than to kill innocent people. We happened to be his target. There is nothing in the local newspaper or news warning people of this incident.

As readers of The Randy Report know, hubby Michael and I often vacation in Puerto Vallarta. While I've never seen any violence during my travels there, I'm also aware that as a gay man in a country who's views on LGBT rights and protections are iffy, I don't hold Michael's hand in public.

(h/t Towleroad)