A Bethesda man was beaten and robbed early Saturday morning in Adams Morgan by three men who yelled, “This is for Trayvon Martin,” before attacking him, police said.
The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and robbery, according to D.C. police spokesman Araz Alali.
Three black men approached an adult white male from behind while he was walking in the 1700 block of Euclid Street NW at 1:26 a.m. Saturday, police said.
Two of the men threw the victim to the ground and kicked him, Alali said. The three perpetrators then took the victim’s iPhone and wallet and fled.
The victim suffered minor injuries and declined medical attention, authorities said.
“There is no pattern in these types of crimes. These attacks are outrageous; we are doing everything in our power to see that they certainly don’t occur. If they do occur, we are going to aggressively investigate them and bring people to justice,” Alali said.
Police: Robbers tell man, 'This is for Trayvon Martin'.
A weekend robbery in a racially diverse neighborhood of Washington may have been a hate crime, police said."This is for Trayvon Martin," one of the three black men told a white man as they approached him early Saturday, according to Washington Metropolitan Police Officer Anthony Clay.
The alleged robbery happened two weeks after a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the 2012 death of African-American teenager Trayvon Martin.
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The men kicked the adult white male as they took his iPhone and wallet, Clay said Sunday.
The man, who has not been publicly identified, suffered minor injuries and refused medical treatment, he said.
There have been no arrests, but police are investigating the incident as a hate crime, he said.
It happened in the Adams Morgan neighborhood in the northwest quadrant of the nation's capital.
