A North Carolina man was brutally beaten and set on fire by a man that he met at a gay bar last weekend.

Police say that 46-year-old Stephen Patrick White, a U.S. Army veteran, was beaten and severely burned by 26-year-old Garry Joseph Gupton after the two decided to go back to a hotel together early Sunday morning.

"We believe this was a consensual encounter between the two of them, and at some point Mr. Gupton began acting incredibly irrational," Police spokeswoman Susan Danielsen said, according to The Associated Press.

Bartender Jim Olive said that he saw White and Gupton leave together in a cab.

"I walked them towards the door and I asked Garry, I said, 'So, are you going to hang with my friend Steve tonight?'" Olive said. "And he said, 'Yes.' And I said, 'Well, I like Steve a lot. Be nice to him.'"

According to Robert Porter, a bartender at Chemistry, the suspect told him that he began experimenting with men when he was 19 years old, and he was afraid to enter the bar for over a month before he finally came in.

Police received a phone call around 4:30 a.m. from an employee at the Greensboro hotel to report a man screaming. Around the same time, the fire alarm was went off.

Gupton was arrested, and White was found unconscious and badly burned in a hotel room.

"These are hard cases to deal with," Public Defender Wayne T. Baucino said, adding that Gupton has not entered a plea. He is currently held in lieu of $250,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 10.

"Guilford County Assistant District Attorney Howard Newman said it appeared White was struck with a telephone, television and another small piece of furniture. He said he expected to file arson charges, as the fire appeared to be intentionally set," reports the AP.