Media outlets in Greece are reporting that an LGBTQ activist and drag performer has died as the result of an accident after attempting to rob a jewelry store, but a disturbing video of the event tells a very different story.
Zak Kostopoulos, who was a prominent fixture in the Athens queer scene, is seen in the tape being kicked to death by two men as a crowd watches.
A social media campaign is pushing back against the official “accident” story. One activist wrote:
“His murder is all over the news presented as an accident: he died trying to escape through a shop window after attempting armed robbery. The brutal, brutal video accompanying those articles shows a very different truth: a disoriented, unarmed Zak trying to escape and the shop owner with another man brutally kicking him to death.”
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Others have been quick to point out that Kostopoulos was not in the store to rob it, but rather to seek shelter from a fight happening out on the street. He reportedly got caught in the shop’s security door when it closed.
In the upsetting video that’s circulating online, Kostopoulos stumbles while attempting to crawl out of the shop window after shattering it with a fire extinguisher. That’s when the shop owner chases him and brutally beats him with another man. Police eventually arrive and cuff Kostopoulos.
He reportedly died in the ambulance while being transported to a hospital.
The shop owner has been arrested, and the second man is wanted in connection to the senseless death.
Kostopoulos was a well-known drag performer (known as Zackie Oh) and HIV activist, regularly speaking out to combat stigma.
Chrisk
I hope they charged them appropriately with murder.
gymmuscleboy
I understand he may have sought refuge in the shop, but then why did he try to escape and smash a window? They say he “became trapped inside the shop’s door space” but what reasonable person would smash glass for that reason when there are attendants inside to help him?
barkomatic
I haven’t seen the video, but if he was already fleeing a dangerous scene he may have panicked or perhaps he was chased? Perhaps the shopkeepers were threatening him as well.
People don’t always react with perfect logic when they are under very dangerous or stressful situations.
Lacuevaman
perhaps, maybe, but if… i guess.
unknown69
Lol, this sounds alot like that case where a “black unarmed kid” was shot to death by a trigger happy cop, but what really happened is that man didn’t comply tried to attack the cop and he was reaching for cops gun in attempt to kill him with his own gun. Left-ies are always crafting their own stories, just like they do their own “facts”.
Why would this guy smash the windows with fire extinguisher if he wasn’t robbing the store, also he was a drag queen, so I don’t see why he couldn’t use some expensive jewelry.
unknown69
Also he had HIV so these guys could get infected with the virus. To be fair to the man he didn’t need to die for his robbery, these guys took it too far, should know that drags usually only take one blow and they are completely disarmed.
Gigi Gee
And you wonder why you never get invited to parties.
Dwik27
LOL? Really, lol? What about this story is worthy of lol?? And I think this story sounds more like the scared unarmed black kid who gets 16 shots in the back because he had the nerve to try to run away from a bad situation not of his making.
QueerTruth
It’s rather alarming to see so much speculation when the man is dead.
Perhaps you should focus on respecting the friends and family left behind until the story can assessed.
Regardless. He was unarmed. Surrounded by people who watched the man being kicked to death.
My thoughts go to his memory and family.
niles
Yours and others’ trolls on here are really becoming repetitive and silly. Yes, we all know by now your tricks of turning everything around to make a ridiculous argument, thereby “triggering” your target audience. There really is no lower form of life than one who picks on the downtrodden, the marginalized, the unpopular minorities and tries to increase their misery. You are very sick and need help. I suggest you seek it soon before the bile in your body boils up into your throat and suffocates you.
Lacuevaman
there must be much more to this story. ….like most queerty files.
DCguy
In one of the reports it said that video showed the police hitting him also. So he got handcuffed, and put into their custody, then ends up dead. Sounds like they are at least complicit in it.
Lacuevaman
DCGurl…. you think he was a republican, alt-right, trump supporting troll….in disguise? why not cry out to queerty??? come on queen, roll your tape…..
mountainmaat
Wait., did someone actually say these attackers were “at risk for catching HIV” ????? wtf is this 1996? Do we assume Zack isn’t being treated and posed a THREAT ??? GTFO
Ellas1821
This article is so far from the truth if you watch the video on youtube you will see that he broke into someone elses shop to begin with totally destroying everything with a fire extinguisher and then the owner gave him 3 kicks with the other friend he was still conscious and picked up pieces of glass attacking the shop owner and police officer after he attacks them the idiot runs into a table and falls to the ground then stands back up again to try stab the police… And the police have to restrain him from stabbing them are you kidding me???? the person who wrote this article should be ashamed making out he was a saint far from it and he was on drugs and a drug addict with HIV not only could he have killed people trying to do their job but infected everyone also. This guy was a danger to himself and all those around him there was no need for him to rob someone shop its a crime as is trying to stab everyone including police.
Ellas1821
So drug addicts can go around robbing stores ruining peoples livelihood when Greece is in its biggest economic crisis attempt to stab innocent police and bystanders and he is still the victim LOL GTFO
QueerTruth
That’s not what happened here.