Video shows attack at pizza restaurant

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin police Friday released video showing two men at a downtown pizza restaurant being punched by a man who then walked away and has still not been arrested.

The video is from a surveillance camera at the Roppolo’s Pizza where the argument and following attack occurred.

“The man next to me started hassling us and I ended up with pizza all over me and he beat us both up,” said Nick Soret, one of the victims.

Soret suffered a fractured nose but his friend, Andrew Oppleman, lost several teeth in the attack.

The video shows Soret and the attacker, wearing a baseball cap and thick-rimmed black glasses, talking at while waiting for pizza. The conversation escalates into an argument and the punches then followed.

Soret and Oppleman were both in the area to celebrate Austin’s "Gay Pride" weekend and believe that may have motivated the assault.

“He didn’t like me standing next to him and he accused me of looking at him,” said Soret. “He said I was standing too close.”

Police say it is too early to call the attack a hate crime and that the district attorneys office will have to determine whether or not that label is appropriate.

Finding the suspect and questioning him about his motivation has to happen first.

“We are pretty confident that somebody in the Austin area knows who he is,” said Police Cpl. Anthony Hipolito about the video that shows a clear shot of the suspect.