Hell’s Kitchen gay bar vandal attacked NYC hotspot in feud about a woman; no hate crime charge, say cops

A man accused of smashing plate glass windows at a Hell’s Kitchen LGBTQ bar may have been “extracting revenge” on an employee who had a problem with a woman he knows, police said Tuesday.

Sean Kuilan, 34, was taken into custody by an NYPD warrant squad team early Tuesday. He was questioned a day after cops released surveillance images of a man hurling a brick at VERS on Ninth Ave. near W. 49th St. in Hell’s Kitchen.

Sean Kuilan, 34, was taken into custody by an NYPD Warrant Squad team early Tuesday.

“I’m still very curious about his motivations,” said David DeParolesa, who co-owns the bar. “I just want to make sure it is truly the end of it with him.”

A CrimeStoppers tip and area residents who recognized Kuilan from the surveillance video led the suspect to be charged, said NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig. Police caught up to Kuilan at the apartment he shares with his father, down the block from the bar.

He was charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon, cops said.

Kuilan told cops he smashed the windows because “he knows a girl who had a problem with one of the employees in the bar, and he was extracting revenge for that,” Essig said.

The co-owner of the bar was unaware of any such spat.

“There was no further detail on that. I don’t even understand that,” said DeParolesa, 40. “There’s been no one we’ve ever kicked out.

“I think we probably asked some people who are too drunk, like kind of normal stuff, but there’s been no one that’s caused any issues that we’ve been worried about,” he added.

Essig said cops corroborated Kuilan’s account.

“We have corroborated a lot of his story,” Essig said. “There is no reason that he targeted the location because it was a gay bar.”

A man threw a brick at the window of a Midtown gay bar that has been terrorized by similar attacks in recent weeks, police said.

The spectacles-sporting suspect committed three attacks against the bar in a week. There may have been a fourth incident, but there is no video evidence of this, Essig said.

No one was injured in the attacks, but the bar had to spend $600 to replace the window after each incident, VERS co-owner Aidan Davis told the Daily News Monday.

“We upgraded our camera system, and this most recent attack is when we were able to get a clear image of the attacker, who was wearing glasses,” said Davis.

Despite the repeated attacks, VERS will remain open, Davis said.

“Following Pulse and what recently happened, we just want people to know our community is fearless,” he continued, referring to Saturday’s deadly shooting at a Colorado LGBTQ club, which took five lives.

Sean Kuilan, 34, was taken into custody by an NYPD Warrant Squad team early Tuesday.

In his latest attack, the Hell’s Kitchen vandal was caught on camera lobbing a brick at the VERS window around 10 p.m. Saturday.

On Nov. 13, police responded to the bar around 5:35 p.m. after he threw a brick at the window. Cops were back at the establishment two days later for a similar call around 6:40 p.m., police said.

“We had a repairer come and reinstall the window, and less than 90 minutes after he was done installing the third window, it happened again,” Davis said. “So we fear the individual was watching.”

Kuilan has one prior arrest in the city for menacing in September 2021, cops said.

When he never showed up for court, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.

“I would like people to be good neighbors,” Davis implored. “If you see something, say something, because these acts of violence are not normal. The queer community is strong, and we’ve worked really hard to get where we are, and we’re not moving anywhere.”

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