NEW YORK, NY – A man initially falsely accused by the media of engaging in hate crimes by repeatedly hurling bricks at a New York City gay bar has been revealed to be a homosexual himself, with the incident not having been motivated by discrimination but instead by revenge, police say.
Sean Kuilan, 34, was vandalizing Hell’s Kitchen gay bar VERS Saturday evening because he was allegedly sticking up for a female friend who he felt had been wronged by its management, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig.
“Basically, what he says [is] he knows a girl who had a problem with one of the guys in the bar and he was ‘exacting revenge,’” Essig said. “As of right now we don’t have any reason to believe it is [a hate crime].”
Kuilan has been charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief in connection to three instances of brick-throwing at VERS – taking place on November 13, 15 and 19 – which cops say was caught on surveillance video that lead to his identification; tips to the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline also aided in his capture.
The suspect is not being charged with an additional fourth incident at the bar, however, because there is no video proof at the time connecting him to it. No customers were injured in any of the attacks, thanks to the bar sporting shatterproof glass in its windows, a precaution against anti-gay attacks.
“I’m gay myself,” Kuilan said after he was arrested on Tuesday in an attempt to dispel previous erroneous reporting that he had targeted VERS because it was a gay bar, adding that his motive was, “Something personal.”
At the time of his arrest, Kuilan also had an active warrant from a September 2, 2021 menecing case where he allegedly pulled a knife on an individual and said, “Are you okay with dying?”
