Hell's Kitchen Man Arrested In Gay Bar Brick Attacks: Police

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — Police have arrested a Hell's Kitchen man accused of throwing rocks at the window of a gay bar on three different occasions last week.

Sean Kuilan, 34, lives right around the corner from VERS, the Ninth Avenue bar that was vandalized the nights of Nov. 13, 15 and 19, police said.

Kuilan was arrested Tuesday in Lower Manhattan and charged with three counts each of criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

An NYPD official told the New York Post that the attacks did not appear to be hate crimes; rather, Kuilan was "exacting revenge" for a female friend who was in a dispute with the bar, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig told the newspaper.

The attacks had raised alarms in the neighborhood, in part because the most recent incident, which was caught on surveillance video, occurred just hours before a gunman killed five people in an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.

Owners of VERS had also criticized the NYPD for a perceived lackadaisical response, telling Gothamist that officials had not even requested surveillance footage by Sunday.

Related coverage: Hell's Kitchen Gay Bar Vandalized Repeatedly, Owners And Police Say