Bryan Smith, a DJ and barber well-known in D.C.’s LGBTQ+ community, died last week following what police have described as a robbery that left him lying unconscious on the street with severe head injuries.
According to The Washington Blade, police confirmed Smith’s death last week but were still determining the cause and circumstances.
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“Once we have more information, we’ll be putting that out,” Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson Thomas Lynch said.
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According to an October 30 press release from the MPD, at around 5 a.m. on October 27, police responded to a report of a man found unconscious in the 500 block of T Street in Washington, D.C.’s Northwest neighborhood. The victim, who was later identified as Smith, was transported to a local hospital. He was later transferred to a hospital in Virginia where he died on November 7.
Police said they had determined that Smith was robbed by two suspects while walking in the area, which as the Blade notes is a little over a block away from D.C. gay bar Uproar. They had not, however, determined how Smith sustained his injuries.
According to The Advocate, Smith had played a DJ set at the nearby 9:30 Club the night he was attacked. An MPD spokesperson told the outlet that the case is still being investigated as a robbery. “There is no indication at this time that hate/bias motivated this offense,” they said.
The MPD has released video of two suspects and a vehicle believed to be connected with the crime and are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment.
While investigator have also linked the two suspects to three other robberies in the early morning hours of October 27, the MPD spokesperson told The Advocate that there was no apparent connection to a recent incident in the area that is being investigated as a potential hate crime.
As the Blade notes, hours before Smith was found on October 27, 22-year-old Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarra, who is also gay, was reportedly attacked at an area McDonald’s by 15 men and women. Police arrested a 16-year-old male in connection with that assault on November 5.
Dave Perruzza, owner of two LGBTQ+ sports bars in D.C.’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, told The Advocate that the recent attacks have raised concerns about queer people walking home alone.
“We should almost have a buddy system in D.C.,” Perruzza said, adding that Smith was likely “just strolling home, not thinking anything would ever happen.”
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