Twitter user @FanSince09 only needed a few surveillance photos and the power of social media to connect the dots between a violent hate crime and the alleged attackers.
The Philadelphia Police Department released the photos and a video of the "preppy-looking young adults" who may have led an attack on a gay couple in Center City, Philadelphia, according to the NBC 10 in Philadelphia. @FanSince09 received the pictures and "tried to get it out there and asked for retweets," he told NBC 10.
He received several tips, including one from a Facebook group that knew names of the people in the photos. @FanSince09 made sure to pass along any helpful information to Philadelphia Police Detective Joseph Murray.
The Twitter investigator then found a photo of a similar looking group eating at La Viola West restaurant, located two blocks from the site of the attack. One man in the restaurant photo appears to be wearing the same orange sweater vest as one of the suspects in the surveillance photos.
@FanSince09 used the La Viola West tip to find anyone who had checked into the restaurant on Facebook. "Some of the names matched up with the names I was hearing form tipsters," he said.
He also found anti-gay remarks on the alleged suspects Facebook accounts. "If you're going to gay bash don't fill your FB profile with gay slurs and also delete that restaurant check in from earlier," @FanSince09 tweeted.
Police said the group of attackers asked about the two men's sexual orientation and then beat and punched them while holding them down on Sept. 11 around 10:45 p.m. One of the victims claimed the group was "screaming, 'you dirty f****t, you dirty f****t,'" according to NBC 10.
One of the attackers also took a bag dropped by one of the victims, according to police. Both victims, who are in their late-20s, were taken to a hospital. One had deep facial lacerations and a wired jaw.
Detective Murray gave credit to @FanSince09 for assisting the police in coming closer to an arrest.
"S/O to @FanSince09 This is what makes my job easy. Sure it's up to me to make the arrest but we are all in this together," Murray tweeted. He added, "This is how Twitter is supposed to work for cops. I will take a couple thousand Twitter detectives over any one real detective any day."
The nearby restaurant Pennsylvania 6 also offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the attackers' arrest, the general manager Ryan Fenton told NBC 10.
If @FanSince09 receives the award, he promised to donate half of the money to LGBT charities. He also joked on Twitter he would accept a reward check or key to the city dress in a Bane mask, referencing the "The Dark Knight Rises" character.
