Hook up gone wrong, escort with issues or hate crime? What happened?

[marylander1940]

The 911 call was made at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 9. An employee at the Battleground Inn in Greensboro, N.C. reported an erratic man screaming on the premises.

 

“Some guy over here, he just flipped out,” the employee said. “He’s running around.”

 

Moments later, the hotel’s fire alarm sounded.

 

The man was 26-year-old Garry Joseph Gupton, who was described by the employee as shirtless and shouting obscenities, knocked over a computer before disappearing out the hotel’s front doors.

 

Authorities arrived at the scene minutes later to find 46-year-old Stephen Patrick White naked, robbed, beaten with a desk phone and large television, and set ablaze in room 417. He was rushed to the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, where he was treated for smoke inhalation, burns, and other injuries

 

More...

 

http://www.queerty.com/u-s-army-veteran-dies-after-being-burned-alive-in-hotel-room-during-hookup-gone-wrong-20141118

[rvwnsd]

I guess we will find out when this goes to trial, assuming it makes the news outside of the local community. I do take issue with the term "hate crime." Does it really matter whether the assailant spewed racial, sexual, homophobic, ethnic slurs when committing a crime? Denoting some crimes "hate" crimes seems to make other crimes less criminal, which I do not think is right.

[+ ArVaGuy]

This does not sound like a hate crime to me at all. More likely it was a pick up murder. Two guys met in a bar, rented a cheap motel room, likely did drugs (meth?) and the situation turned violent.

[marylander1940]

This does not sound like a hate crime to me at all. More likely it was a pick up murder. Two guys met in a bar, rented a cheap motel room, likely did drugs (meth?) and the situation turned violent.

 

Certainly but the difference of age makes it very unlikely to be a hook up, I think he offered $ to that redneck and he turned violent at the hotel for some reason.

[namchebaz]

This happened about 30 minutes from my home, so I've been able to follow it closely. Bad hookup or escort with "issues"? Hmmm...I would say that the number of people walking around with serious mental illness who can't access the support they desperately need is reaching a crisis level (more so than many realize) in many places, but particularly in this state where funding for those services has been nearly eliminated. I have to believe that played a major role in this sad case.