The San Francisco Police Department is investigating an alleged anti-gay hate crime today, following an attack on two tourists outside Fillmore District fast food restaurant.

San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Sergeant Michael Andraychak says that the confrontation began at around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, when two 28-year-old men visiting San Francisco from New York dined at the McDonald's at 1100 Fillmore Street, near Golden Gate Avenue.

One of the men, identified by the Chron as Manhattan-based publicist Neal Frias, was confronted outside the restaurant by two suspects who "uttered homophobic slurs," Andraychak says.

"Three additional suspects exited a minivan and also confronted the victim," Andraychak says.

Andraychak says that when he saw the confrontation, Frias' companion, identified by the Chron as Jeff White, "exited the restaurant to join" Frias.

The five male suspects, aged around 25-35, attacked Frias and White with pepper spray, Andraychak says. When White and Frias called for help, the suspects fled the scene in the same blue minivan, Andraychak says. All five suspects remain at large as of publication time.

According to a Facebook post by Frias, "5 guys pulled up in a minivan and came out with mace and started to spray us down while calling us F*gs and telling us we are destroying the institution of family values."

The men were treated at the scene and released, Andraychak says. The Chron reports that the duo was in town to enjoy the Folsom Street Fair, and quotes Frias as saying "I would think what happened last night would happen somewhere else, not here."

“They were saying, ‘You fags are destroying family values. I said I didn’t want any trouble, and one of them got out of the van. I thought he was going to take a swing at me, but he sprayed me across the face.”

It was only when "A nearby woman shouted that she was calling the police" that the assault on the two men ended, the Chron reports.

“The thing that was the most remarkable about the situation is how unprovoked it was,” White told the Chron. “I was literally tying my shoe when they came at me. It’s mind-boggling.”

Andraychak says that "the incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime" and has been assigned to SFPD's Special Investigations Division.

“We take these crimes very seriously,” SFPD spokesperson Officer Carlos Manfredi told the Chron, saying that police were seeking surveillance video that might have caught the suspects on tape.

“If anybody feels they can attack someone based on their sexual preference, we’re going to go after them and hold them accountable.”

"A conviction for assault with pepper spray (Felony) could result in a sentence to state prison," Andraychak says. "A hate crime enhancement, upon conviction, could result in additional prison time."