Police are looking for three men and two women who assaulted college-area residents Thomas Mitchell and his boyfriend Howard Lam on University Avenue in Hillcrest, on Sunday, March 22.

Two surveillance cameras, located on an apartment building, partially captured the incident on tape.

According to Mitchell, at 10:45 p.m., he and Lam were walking from Flicks, a gay bar on University Avenue, where Mitchell works as a bouncer, to go dancing at Rich’s nightclub, a half block east of Flicks. On their way, the two noticed a woman in a blue sweater, who was among a group of three men and two women, yelling anti-gay epithets.

“She was yelling obscenities like, ‘Fucking homos. Fucking faggots,’” Mitchell said.

At 10:46 p.m., the surveillance tape captured two of the suspects, the woman in a blue sweater and a man in a white T-shirt standing in front of home-furnishing store Pomegranate.

As Mitchell and Lam walked by, the woman directed her obscenities at them, and the two responded, Mitchell said.

“We told them, ‘You know, you guys need to shut up’ and we walked away,” Mitchell said.

The woman then walked up to Lam and punched him in the chest.

Mitchell said he was flabbergasted. “I was like, ‘what the hell just happened? My boyfriend just got hit in the chest,’” he said.

Lam then pushed the woman back. At 10:47 p.m., the surveillance video shows the woman with a blue sweater on the ground along with the other female suspect and two unidentifiable figures.

At that point, the group surrounded Mitchell and Lam. Mitchell then called for Neal Carlson, one of Flicks’ bouncers, for help.

“I hear Mitch yell for help, and I look down, and I see people fighting. So I ran down there,” Carlson said.

As Carlson was running to the scene, Mitchell found Lam lying on the ground with blood coming from his mouth, where he had been punched, Mitchell said.

When Mitchell saw Lam, he retaliated. “I saw the guy who did it. He was the only one that was behind me, and I went after him and punched him in the mouth and pushed him up against the window at Pomegranate,” Mitchell said.

Two of the male suspects then began to punch Mitchell in the head, while the other male suspect kicked him in the knee.

“I was blocking my face and everything. So, they just kept hitting me on the top of my head. I wasn’t going down. So, one of them kicked me in the knee, in my right knee. That’s what took me to the ground,” Mitchell said.

When Carlson arrived, he separated the group from Mitchell and Lam.

“I ran down there and basically broke it up,” Carlson said.

Vito, head bouncer at Rich’s, who declined to give his last name, saw the incident from the nightclub’s front entrance. Vito ran over once Carlson separated the two parties.

“I ran over to make sure Mitch and his buddy were OK and to make sure that the other parties took off,” Vito said.

At 10:49 p.m., the surveillance video shows Carlson forcing two women, including the one with a blue sweater, and the man in a white T-shirt to walk away from the scene, westward toward Flicks.

“Eventually, I got them [the suspects] to walk down the road. There was a bunch of yelling back and forth. Everyone was all emotional and screaming,” Carlson said.

Lam received a busted lip and a partial black eye, while Mitchell suffered bruises on his head and damage to a knee ligament. Doctors haven’t been able to diagnose the injury. Since the incident, Mitchell has been unable to work, and while Flicks has retained him, his other employer laid him off. Mitchell is receiving financial help from a victims’ assistance program through the District Attorney’s office.

Meanwhile, police are continuing to investigate the incident and are considering classifying it as a hate crime.

“I think it could qualify as a hate crime,” San Diego Police Department Detective Eric Stafford said.

But Vito and Carlson aren’t so sure; they believe the incident was a gay-on-gay assault.

According to Vito, before the incident occurred, the suspects had been inside Rich’s nightclub, drinking and dancing, for about an hour and a half.

“They were in here partying, pretty intoxicated,” Vito said.

Based on their appearance and behavior, Vito believes the suspects were gay.

“From what I remember they looked gay. They didn’t look straight. I mean the guys were hugging on each other and dancing with each other. So, in my experience, here, that’s pretty gay,” Vito said.

Once they exited the nightclub, Vito and his staff decided they would not allow the group back in.

“When they walked out, we had made the decision that we were not going to let them back in because of their level of intoxication. And they were talking to our door guy, trying to get back in. He wouldn’t let them in. They got a little bit more ticked off, and then they started walking down that way [pointing westward towards Flicks],” Vito said, seconds before one of the suspects confronted Mitchell and Lam.

Carlson also questions whether the incident should be classified as a hate crime.

“I don’t see how it can be a hate crime because they were gay. I’ve worked here [at Flicks] for four or five years now. I know when I see some gay guys. They were just pissed off gay guys, calling each other “faggot.” It was a gay-on-gay fight.” Carlson said.

Stafford hopes the suspects will return to Rich’s or visit Flick’s, where Vito or Carlson can identify them.

“My only hope is that someone will be able to identify the guy or girl if they return to Rich’s or Flicks. Then, obviously, the SDPD will be alerted and we’ll respond, and we’ll be able to get some names to go with the faces. But, right now, they’re still under investigation, based on how it appears to have happened, per the video and per the victims’ statements,” Stafford said.

Anyone with information relating to the case is asked to call San Diego Police Department Western Division at 619-692-4978.