In Offenbach, a city just outside Frankfurt, Germany, several gay men appear to have been targeted through dating apps and lured into ambushes where they were brutally attacked. Police are currently investigating multiple cases, and a total of seven incidents have come to light since last year. This was reported over the weekend by the Offenbach-Post.
According to initial findings, the attackers, who remain unidentified, entrapped their victims at meetings arranged under false identities and led them to secluded locations. There, the gay men were assaulted by masked groups, beaten severely, and in some cases attacked with pepper spray pistols. The most recent assaults occurred on June 3 and June 6.
“All cases share that the perpetrators act in a coordinated and treacherous manner,” police spokesperson Thomas Leipold told the Offenbach-Post. Whether it is always the same group is the subject of the investigation. Five victims described the attackers to the newspaper as young men between 15 and 20 years old, who appeared to have an Arab or Southern European phenotype.
The police urge witnesses of the incidents, as well as potential additional victims, to contact them at (069) 8098-1234.
Marcy Ellerton
