A victim told police he drove to Bluebird Park around 2:20 a.m. on October 21 to meet a man named Adam he'd been messaging on a dating site — only to be confronted with an anti-gay slur, then jumped by four men who had been hiding in the bushes. Now 18-year-old Abdulwareth A. Alahmad is facing charges in connection with the attack, which authorities say was motivated by discrimination.
According to firstalert4.com, the victim says Alahmad told him, “I actually hate gay people,” right before the four men emerged from nearby bushes and closed in. The group punched the victim in the head and torso, the outlet reports, and kept punching and kicking him even after he went down. Charging documents cited by the station say the attackers used slurs and told the victim they wanted his belongings.
The victim dropped his iPhone 16 during the struggle, and the phone was later found smashed at the park, per the same report. As the taunting continued, he managed to break free and get to his car, then drove straight to the Ellisville Police Department to report what happened. The attack reportedly unfolded in St. Louis County.
Flock Cameras And A Photo Lineup Led To An Arrest
Detectives said Flock cameras captured Alahmad leaving the park, and the victim later identified him in a photo lineup, according to the station's reporting. Based on that identification and the surveillance footage, Alahmad was charged with first-degree assault.
Reports on the exact wording of the second charge differ. firstalert4.com describes it simply as property damage motivated by discrimination, while Fox 2 Now reports the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged him with first-degree property damage motivated by discrimination. Fox 2 Now also reports Alahmad remained jailed on a $200,000 cash-only bond, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for November 17.
Defense Says Client Was Misidentified
Alahmad's attorney told Fox 2 Now that his client was misidentified and that he expects the charges to be dropped. The attorney also said Alahmad had been released on his own recognizance, though the station noted Missouri court records had not yet verified that claim at the time of publication. Missouri's Case.net system is the state's public portal for case dockets, parties, judgments and charges, though the evidence available does not confirm Alahmad's case status there.
Ellisville police said they believe there are unreported incidents similar to this attack and are asking anyone with information to call 636-227-7777, per firstalert4.com's reporting.
Part Of A Broader Pattern Of Dating-App Lures
Missouri's own hate crime data underscores why bias-motivated attacks draw heightened scrutiny from prosecutors. The FBI recorded 194 hate crimes reported by Missouri law enforcement agencies in 2021, the state's highest total on record, according to kansascity.com. More than half of those were motivated by racial bias, while the FBI recorded 16 anti-gay incidents and 10 anti-LGBT incidents that same year, the outlet reports.
Dating apps being used to lure and attack victims isn't unique to St. Louis County, either. In Melbourne, Australia, Victoria police said they investigated 113 “concerning attacks” on men tied to dating apps since January 2024, with 47 arrests made, according to The Guardian. In one cluster of 11 reported incidents there, five teenagers aged 16 to 18 were arrested, with three charged with sexual assault offenses and one charged with kidnapping, the paper reports.
