UPDATE #1: Ex-football player out on $5,000 bail for attack on gay man who jumped from a moving truck to escape

UPDATE #2: London to hold rally against hate and violence

Alex Myros, a former semi-pro football player who was hailed as a hero three months ago for rescuing two children in a fiery crash is now wanted by police for the beating of a gay man, Brandon Wright, who jumped from a moving pickup truck.

London Free Press reports:
(London, Ontario, Canada) Alex Myros, 22, a former member of the London Silverbacks, is wanted for aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, and two counts of uttering death threats.

The victim, Brandon Wright, 22, told The Free Press he was offered a ride by a man from a Kipps Lane strip mall to Masonville Place mall about 11:30 a.m. last Tuesday and within seconds after getting inside the pickup truck, the man started beating him with a metal object, screaming "I'm going to kill you -- you stupid faggot." Wright said he doesn't know how many times he was hit, but he tried to fend off the blows with his arm as he desperately reached to unlock the door and open it. He tumbled from the pickup as several witnesses looked on.

The incident is being investigated as a hate crime, police confirmed, and if the charges are proven in court, an application could be made to allow the judge to deliver a harsher sentence. Wright said he told his story to the media out of fear and to alert other people to what happened. Yesterday, Wright said he's glad a warrant has been issued for a suspect, but said he still lives in fear. "I'm happy about the warrant, but I'll wait and see what happens now," he said. "It's not very reassuring in terms of my safety." Read more at London Free Press.