Pair used homophobic slurs in hate-crime attack at Oak Lawn bar, Dallas police say

Dallas police are looking for two men they say assaulted employees in a homophobic attack at an Oak Lawn bar over the weekend.

Officers were called to the Liquid Zoo Bar & Grill at Knight Street and Maple Avenue about 12:30 a.m. Sunday and spoke to several victims. Police records indicate at least four men filed complaints.

According to police, the pair of assailants started arguing with the victims, who were working at the bar, and the confrontation became physical.

The attackers used homophobic slurs, and police said they are are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Police did not release descriptions of the two men they’re seeking.

A post on the bar’s Facebook page Sunday morning said the bar doesn’t condone discrimination and apologized that people were subjected to the attackers’ actions.

“We will not tolerate HATE against our bar,” the post says.

Gary Welborn, the bar’s owner, said the employees handled the incident well and that bartenders will work to ensure a similar incident doesn’t happen in the future.

“The bartenders are going to take a different protocol, so when we see people we don’t feel comfortable with here … they get someone off the premise [sooner],” he said, adding that the bar’s regular customers “know we’re going to take whatever steps we have to take to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Anyone with information about the case may contact Detective Derek Gaffney at 214-671-3703 or derek.gaffney@dallascityhall.com.

Staff writer Catherine Marfin contributed to this report.