Content warning: This story may include topics that some readers may find uncomfortable. In the early hours of 4 September, Abimbola Adelaja and a friend were attacked in the Bushwick area when they were buying a sandwich.
Two men approached them and began stabbing them with a screwdriver and glass bottle, shouting homophobic slurs as they did so.
Adelaja, who is gay, suffered a punctured lung as a result of being stabbed four times and his friend, who is straight and remaining unnamed at this time, was knifed seven times – though both are now in a stable condition.
The pair also had their phone and money stolen by the culprits and the New York Police Department (NYPD) has since arrested one suspect on 8 September.