Vancouver Police Announce Arrest Of Four Men In Two Separate Gay Bashings

Four individuals have been arrested in connection with two separate incidents in Vancouver, British Columbia that involving an attack on gay men, crimes committed, according to police, likely motivated by the sexual orientation of the victims. Parminder Singh Peter Bassi, 30 years old is charged with two counts of assault causing bodily harm, and his brother, Ravinder Robbie Bassi, 27 years old, is charged with one count of assault causing bodily harm, the result of an incident that took place on the evening of June 12th, the two men allegedly assaulting David Holtzman and Peter Reiger who returned to their east Vancouver townhouse to find two men outside urinating over the steps. When asked to stop and to leave, the two men beat the couple, taunting them repeatedly with homophobic slurs. In a separate event, early Thursday morning a 30 year old Vancouver man was attacked near Davie and Burrard Streets, the victim telling police he was repeatedly punched by two men who used a number of anti-gay slurs during the assault. The two men – Alexandre Tchernychev and Aaron Alexander Hahn, both 21 years old, were arrested moments later only a block away. They have been charged with assault causing bodily harm. Police are still determining whether to add a hate crime charge to all four men.