Man stabbed outside Kennesaw bar says attack was racially motivated

A man stabbed in the face outside a Kennesaw bar believes he was targeted because of his race.

Humberto Sanchez, 26, who is Mexican-American, told Channel 2 Action News he was out with coworkers July 13 when two white men approached him outside SuBourbon Bar on Summers Street.

They reportedly asked him if he had any drugs, accusing him of being part of a Mexican drug cartel.

“‘Yeah, you have it,’ and, ‘Can I get some?’” Sanchez recalled of the encounter. “And I’m like, no, I don’t even know what you're talking about.”

Sanchez told Channel 2 he thinks those same men ambushed him as he was leaving the bar and walking toward Cobb Parkway, though he never saw their faces.

“That’s when I got hit from the back and I got cut,” Sanchez said. “I didn’t even second-guess what was going on. I ran ... I thought I was dying.”

The Marietta man was treated at WellStar Kennestone Hospital and required 25 stitches down the right side of his face, the news station reported.

Kennesaw police are now treating the attack as a hate crime.

RELATED: Alleged hate crime under investigation in Kennesaw

“Our primary goal right now is to identify potential witnesses who may have seen anything to corroborate what we have so far,” Kennesaw police Lt. Craig Graydon told AJC.com.

Anyone who witnessed the assault or has information regarding the case is asked to call Kennesaw police at 770-422-2505 or Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.