A West Hartford man faces a hate crime charge after he attacked a homeless man he said "came at me like a gay lover," police said.
Raymond Kraemer, 49, faces attempted murder, assault and intimidation by bigotry or bias charges.
Cory Wright was beaten Monday night inside the apartment Kraemer rents on Burnham Drive.
Kraemer met Wright while collecting cans and invited him back to his apartment, detectives said.
The attack happened after Wright made unwanted sexual advances, police said.
Kraemer told police that's when Wright "came at me like a gay lover." Kraemer became so angry that he beat Wright in the head with a baseball bat and a hatchet, police said.
"It doesn't appear that it was a fight. It appears more that it was an attack from one person onto another," Captain Paul Mealanson, of West Hartford police, said. "t wasn't a struggle of sorts, it was more an attack from one person onto another."
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After the attack, Kramer told his landlord, Janet Catucci, what happened, police said.
Afterward, Catucci called police and they arrested Kraemer.
Wright remains in critical condition at Hartford Hospital.
