Man shot in possible bias attack

Alison Gendar:

A 23-year-old Brooklyn man was shot outside a Sheepshead Bay restaurant Tuesday night in an attack that his family believes was racially motivated.

Michael Sena, who is white, was with friends at the TGI Friday's on Emmons Ave. about 10 p.m. when he was attacked by a group of black men who had yelled racial taunts, his family said.

"They jumped him," said the victim's mother, Susan Sena. "They ripped a chain right off his neck and they shot him in the back."

Police investigators said they have not determined whether the shooting was a bias attack or a robbery because they haven't been able to extensively interview Sena. He underwent more than four hours of surgery for a hemorrhaging spleen and kidney.

The victim's cousin Allyson Albergo said tensions had been simmering among the racially diverse crowd. Albergo left the restaurant about 20 minutes before the incident, but claims she heard a black man taunt: "Those boys are gonna get what they deserve."

The victim gave his mother a similar account of the evening, saying that some of his attackers called him a "white boy." No arrests were made.

Another case of the NYPD being reluctant to point out that a black-perpetrated crime was racially-motivated.