A decorated former Marine was attacked and robbed by at least four people at a Washington D.C. McDonald's last week, according to local police.
Christopher Marquez, 30, an Iraq War vet, told the Washington Post he was eating in a back corner of the restaurant when a group of teens and young men approached his table.
"They saw me and crowded around ... and they started asking me if I believed black lives matter," Marquez told the paper. "I was ignoring them, then they started calling me racist."
At that point, Marquez said he left the McDonald's, but was knocked unconscious by a blow to his head. When he came to, his pants were ripped and his wallet, which contained $400 in cash, three credit cards and VA medical card among other items, was missing.
According to the Daily Caller, which first reported the incident, Marquez was able to take a cab back to his apartment, where building employees called police. He was treated at George Washington University Hospital for head trauma.
Marquez served in the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2011. He was awarded the Bronze Star with combat distinguishing device for valor during the battle for Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004. Marquez is one of two Marines depicted carrying then-1st Sgt. Bradley Kasal out of the so-called "Hell House" in a famous photograph.
Marquez made an unsuccessful 2014 run for Congress as a Democrat in California. He currently studies at American University in Washington D.C.
"I believe this was a hate crime and I was targeted because of my skin color," Marquez, who is Hispanic, told the Daily Caller. "Too many of these types of attacks have been happening against white people by members of the black community and the majority of the main stream media refuses to report on it."
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