Investigation into alleged sex assault of transgender woman at Stonewall Inn

GREENWICH VILLAGE, Manhattan (WABC) -- Police are investigating the alleged sexual assault of a transgender woman at the historic Stonewall Inn bar.

Police put out a wanted poster with a picture of the man they want to find.

"What was your reaction?" Eyewitness News asked.

"My reaction is how did this happen at Stonewall?" said Stacy Lentz, the Stonewall Inn Co-owner.

The bar's owners say the allegations came as a shock. A 25-year-old transgender woman claims that she was groped and sexually assaulted in a bathroom at the famed Stonewall Inn.

The alleged victim pointed out the man to detectives in surveillance video. He was seen leaving the bathroom on the bar's surveillance camera.

It happened shortly before midnight Saturday night. Investigators say she waited up to an hour before reporting the incident and, by then, the man was gone.

"The case is going well. People inside the Stonewall know him, and we will go from there," said Robert Boyce, Chief of Detectives, NYPD.

The suspect is described as Hispanic, 5-9" to 5-11" tall, 35-45 years old, weighing roughly 250 pounds with a grey suit and a distinctive goatee.

The Stonewall Inn is a New York City landmark. It's considered the birthplace on the nation's gay rights movement, after a police raid led to a riot in 1969.

Nearly 50 years later, police and the bar's owners and patrons are working together to solve an alleged sex assault.

"To see a very violent incident is very, very troubling. But I have confidence based on information that Chief Boyce just indicated that we will apprehend this individual," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

"The police have worked hand-in-hand and the NYPD is always good with us and that's why it's always been a safe place," Lentz said.