D.C. police are investigating the attack on a gay model as a hate crime

According to a report from the Metropolitan Police Department, a 22-year-old gay man was attacked by multiple people in Washington, D.C. early Sunday morning after he failed to say “sorry” to one of the attackers.

The incident occurred after 1 a.m. in the block of 14th and U streets in the city's upscale Logan Circle neighborhood

Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro was out at nearby queer nightclubs Crush Bar and BUNKER on the Saturday evening before the incident. In an interview with NBC News, Lascarro and his husband, Stuart West, said they frequent the neighborhood, which is popular with the city's LGBTQ community.

“This is an area we visit almost every weekend,” said West, who was not with Lascarro at the time of the incident.

Before heading home, Lascarro stopped at a McDonald's located across the street from the two bars. While sitting at a self-service checkout, he realized the restaurant was too crowded and canceled his order.

As he turned to leave, Lascarro said, he was confronted by a woman in line behind him who noted that he needed to say “sorry.”

He said he avoided the confrontation and headed for the exit, but several people blocked the doors and insisted he needed to apologize.

According to the police report, Lascarro was then called a homophobic slur several times, including by a suspect who said, “I'm going to teach you how to apologize, f—–.”

Lascarro said he refused to apologize, which led to several people starting to attack him and “hit him all over the body.”

According to the police report, 10 to 15 suspects, both men and women, were involved in the attack.

The alleged attack extended to the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, where Lascarro reported being constantly beaten, made homophobic slurs and had trash thrown at him.

The restaurant could not be reached by phone Wednesday and McDonald's corporate headquarters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Police are investigating the case as a hate crime and classify the crime as simple assault with anti-gay motivation, according to the police report.

After the attackers left the scene, two pedestrians who encountered Lascarro helped him call 911. He was taken to Howard University Hospital for treatment, the report said.

On Wednesday, Lascarro said he felt “tired and frustrated” and had a headache in addition to persistent pain, swelling and bruising on his face.

Lascarro, originally from Colombia, moved to Washington, DC last year and became a permanent resident of the United States this year. He said he found it difficult to tell the incident to his family, with whom he struggled to come out as gay.

“I feel overwhelmed and lost by all of this,” he said.

West added that Lascarro works as a model and that the combination of anxiety about commuting to work and damage to his face has “had a devastating impact on his ability to be successful right now.”

The couple is in contact with local officials about the case, West said, and he is also reaching out to “every possible local government contact you can think of” to address the issue of protecting the city's LGBTQ community.

In August, a gay man accused a group of Shake Shack employees of beating him after he kissed his boyfriend at the restaurant's location in Dupont Circle, one of D.C.'s most historically LGBTQ-friendly neighborhoods

Washington, DC is scheduled to host WorldPride in 2025.