Vancouver police released this image from a convenience store surveillance camera. It shows a man they're seeking in the egg-throwing incident. (Vancouver Police Department)

Vancouver Police released images from footage from a convenience store security camera that show three Indo-Canadian men police would like to question in connection with an assault on a gay man.

The men appear to be buying eggs in the footage from the early morning hours of May 2. One of the men is holding a beer bottle.

Vancouver police Const. Tim Fanning said three men later threw eggs and a beer bottle at a 37-year-old West End Vancouver man in the same neighbourhood.

This man, also recorded on the surveillance camera, is also being sought by police. (Vancouver Police Department)

The man was walking home along Davie Street, in a well-known gay-friendly neighbourhood in Vancouver, on May 2, shortly after 1 a.m. PT.

Three men, who police said are aged 18 to 20, verbally assaulted and then hit the victim with eggs but missed with a beer bottle.

Fanning said assaults of this type aren't typically brought to the public's attention.

But in this case, he said, police felt they had to make a public plea.

This is the third man that police are seeking in the incident. (Vancouver Police Department)

"The fact that the victim here is openly gay, lends itself for investigators to believe it's one of those most repulsive of crimes … possibly a hate crime," Fanning told reporters.

The photos have circulated within the police department.

However, the lack of leads led the police department to make a more public plea, Fanning said.