Jason Mattison Jr. is dead. The Baltimore teen, who was a quick wit and adored by teachers and peers,  was found in the closet of an aunt. Raped, stabbed, and gagged.

“He was a sweet young man. He wasn’t afraid of who he was. He had a life ahead of him. I just wish he could’ve had a chance to live it,” said Laquanna Couplin, the child’s cousin.

The gay young man, he was out at school and to his family, was the center of attention in his classes and family and made sure his personal stamp was never in the shadows.

The suspect? A Dante Parrish, 35, a family friend with a criminal record that includes murder. Maybe as a defense he’ll trot out the gay panic line, although the rape of a child will make that tactic slightly problematic.

There’s not much to add. Just like there isn’t much to say about the murder of another youngster. Considering the tenor of some of the recent comments though, I can imagine someone blaming Mattison for his own death.

The shooter walked into the center during a meeting for LGBT teens. Most of the victims were very young, and many were not yet out to their families.

Police are searching for the gunman, and believe the incident was a homophobic attack rather than a part of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflicts.

Tel Aviv has an active LGBT scene, but several conservative groups in Israel frown on homosexuality.

The Jerusalem Post reports that police have ordered the closing of gay clubs all over the city as a safety precaution, and that one of the people killed was a youth counselor.

There is a short version of the story up at Reuters.

A story on Ynet News indicates that the attack took place during a regular meeting for LGBT teenagers. At least one witness says the gunman was masked.

* The New York Daily News reported today that a man was attacked around 4 a.m. Saturday by at least three men who called him anti-gay epithets. Boston resident Joseph Holladay, 36, was visiting a friend on the Upper East Side when he was pistol whipped and robbed by three men. He is currently healing at the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

According to the Village Voice, Holladay had stepped outside his friend’s apartment to smoke a cigarette when he was surrounded by five or six men. Residents of the apartment heard and saw the incident occur, reporting to authorities that they saw five or six white men “with crewcuts, wearing wife-beaters” smoking pot outside the building before the attack occurred.

* San Francisco’s large Pink Triangle on the city’s Twin Peaks was burned after what investigators say may be an act of vandalism. CBS 5 reports that a fire on the symbol was extinguished early Sunday morning, hours before the city’s annual Pride Parade was set to begin.

Mercury News also reports that police have determined the symbol was torched by road flares. The giant triangle is put on Twin Peaks every June in conjunction with Gay Pride Month.