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Matthew Shepard's Worst Hate-Sacrifice Murders

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Matthew Shepard was the victim in one of the worst hate-crime murders in history. On the night of October 6, 1998, an openly gay man was viciously beaten.
Matthew Shepard was a twenty-one-year-old openly gay man. Matthew hadn’t come out until after high school. He was a freshman at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming. He had a troubled past. Matthew had gone to Morocco, South Africa with three of his classmates. One night he couldn’t sleep so he decided to go to a nearby coffeehouse, where he met and talked with some German exchange students. While he was heading back he was attacked by a gang of local Moroccans. He was raped six times in a row. The police were never able to catch the people who did it. He had to go through many …show more content…

Matthew was on his way home from an LGBTQ* meeting on his college campus when he decided to go to a gay-friendly bar by the name of Fireside Lounge. He was approached by two young men named Aaron Mckinney and Russell Henderson. They purchased a pitcher of beer and started a conversation with Matthew Shepard. They continued talking with him until about midnight (“The murder of Matthew Shepard”).
They lured Matthew into thinking that they were gay. Although they weren’t, they intended to rob him. They drove Matthew to a remote area in the Sherman Hills development, east of Laramie Aaron McKinney got out of the car and started punching Matthew and pistol-whipped him nineteen to twenty-one times in the head, with the butt of a .357-caliber Magnum Smith and Wesson pistol. Doctors said that the final blow with the pistol irreparably damaged Shepard’s brain stem. (“The murder of Matthew …show more content…

His parents were notified of his injuries and condition. They got on the first plane to Laramie from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The story of the attack was spread from local to regional then to national media. Underscored by reports from many of Shepard’s friends saying that he was gay and had fallen victim to a gay-hate crime. President Bill Clinton and his cabinet reached out to them sending their best wishes (“The Murder of Matthew Shepard”).
The police investigation continued and Aaron Mckinney, Russell Henderson, and their girlfriends were arrested. Matthew succumbed to his injuries on the morning of October 12. After he passed the charges became a felony, murder, and kidnapping. McKinney repeatedly described Matthew as “a queer”, and “fag”, during police questioning (“The Murder of Matthew

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