Unfinished Lives

Remembering LGBT Hate Crime Victims

Nebraska Lesbians Attacked with Crowbar for “Shaming” Muslim Family

Tuma allegedly attacked his sister and her fiancée for bringing shame on the himself and his parents. Marks aided and abetted in the assault.

Tuma allegedly attacked his sister and her fiancée for bringing shame on the himself and his parents. Marks aided and abetted in the assault.

Lincoln, Nebraska – Two lesbians were attacked Thursday by a man wielding a crowbar for supposedly shaming his family.  When the attack failed, he and his friend rammed the women’s car with a pickup truck, attempting to push the women’s vehicle into oncoming traffic.  KLKN TV reports that Ahmed Tuma and his accomplice, Nathan Marks, both 20 years of age, took offense when Tuma’s sister announced she was a lesbian, and became engaged to her fiancée.  Tuma allegedly believed his sister’s relationship with a woman shamed his family, enraging him to the point he enlisted Marks to accompany him on an ambush.  Prior to the attack, Tuma had made death threats against his sister.  Lincoln Police Department spokesperson Officer Katie Flood confirmed, “They were in fear for their lives, he had made some verbal threats to kill the sister.”

Gay Star News says that the lesbians had pulled their car near their home, and had just gotten out to enter the house at approximately 5 p.m. on Thursday when Tuma rushed them, brandishing a crowbar.  The women escaped back to the safety of their car just as the brother swung the weapon.  They frantically tried to start the car as Tuma hit the vehicle’s windows repeatedly, trying to smash them out.  When the lesbians succeeded in starting their car, Tuma rushed back to Marks’s pickup, and the two men rammed their victims’ auto in an apparent attempt to push it into the traffic speeding by.  The couple was able to get away from their assailants, and called police.

Police arrested Tuma for attempted 2nd degree assault, criminal mischief, two counts of terroristic threats and use of a weapon to commit a felony.  All of the charges except use of a weapon carry a hate crime enhancement. Marks was arrested and charged with aiding and abetting a terroristic threat, and aiding and abetting the use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony.  Both men have been arraigned, and will stand trial for the hate crimes in a Lincoln court.

November 11, 2013 Posted by | Anti-LGBT hate crime, Bludgeoning, GLBTQ, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Lesbian women, LGBTQ, Muslims, Nebraska, religious intolerance | , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment