Tag Archives: hate crimes

The Voice Of America reports: The number of hate crime incidents reported in the United States jumped by 17 percent last year to more than 7,000 – the largest increase since 2001 when the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, led to a surge in bias-motivated crimes. The increase, reported Tuesday by the FBI, marks the third annual jump in …

The Washington Post reports: More than 16,000 people have signed an open letter to President Trump from the leaders of a Pittsburgh-based Jewish group who say the president will not be welcome in the city unless he denounces white nationalism and stops “targeting” minorities after a mass shooting Saturday at a local synagogue left 11 dead. The letter, which was …

“This is obviously a very sick, deranged human, sick, deranged person to do this. It seems we have gotten to a point in life and society where everything has to be kind of politicized…Somebody has to point a political finger at absolutely everything. He did the most unthinkable thing imaginable. He went to a place of worship, shot it up. …

CBS News reports: The suspected shooter was identified as Robert Bowers, 48, law enforcement sources told CBS News and KDKA. Bowers surrendered and was taken into custody. Bowers burst into the Tree of Life synagogue and indiscriminately fired in the building while shouting, “All Jews must die,” police sources told KDKA. Four officers were shot during the incident, officials said. …

Haaretz reports: Eight people were killed after a man opened fire on a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday, CBS News reported on Saturday. KDKA has reported that police was able to extract several people from the basement of the synagogue as well as from the attic. It remains unclear if there are further casualties inside. Eyewitness reports say the shooter is …

ABC News reports: The ashes of Matthew Shepard were interred at the National Cathedral in Washington Friday, giving him a “home that is safe” 20 years after his brutal murder, his father said. “To the National Cathedral, I cannot thank you enough … for leading the way and showing acceptance and inclusiveness for any and all who enter these grounds,” …

Gothamist reports: The Metropolitan Republican Club has stood perhaps most forcefully behind McInnes and the Proud Boys. On Sunday, the group put out a statement touting their support for free speech, adding that “Gavin’s talk on Friday night, while at times politically incorrect and a bit edgy, was certainly not inciting violence.” Members of the club have also come to …

“Eric Holder saying when they go low, we kick them? I like that. Let’s get low. Let’s be disgusting. Let’s make some fucking jokes. Can we kill a dead guy who ran Japan’s Socialist Party, please. It happened 58 years ago, relax. That is my beef with the right, is they’re so sacred. And they’re so pure and so careful …

The New York Daily News reports: GOP gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro on Tuesday said he is “a bit ashamed” that a Manhattan Republican Club invited the head of the ultra-national right wing group The Proud Boys to speak over the weekend. “I’m embarrassed these individuals were invited to speak,” Molinaro said during a 90-minute appearance before the Daily News Editorial …

The Daily Beast reports: The New York Police Department announced Monday that it has enough evidence to charge nine members of the right-wing group Proud Boys and three protesters with various counts of rioting, assault and attempted assault. The brawl between the two sides erupted a few blocks from the Metropolitan Republican Club after a speech by Proud Boys leader …

The New York Times reports: For 20 years, the ashes of Matthew Shepard have not been laid to rest. Mr. Shepard’s killing in 1998, when he was a 21-year-old college student, led to national outrage and, almost overnight, turned him into a symbol of deadly violence against gay people. Mourners flocked to his funeral that year in Casper, Wyo., but …

The Times reports: A anti hate-crime campaign endorsed by Scottish ministers and the police risks “stirring up” religious prejudice, according to a leading Christian charity. Billboard posters that have appeared across Scotland in recent weeks targeting prejudices such as racism and homophobia are part of the One Scotland campaign, run by the Scottish government and Police Scotland. However, the initiative …

Deadline Hollywood reports: As Law & Order: SVU is heading into its record-tying 20th season, NBC is expanding the Law & Order franchise with a 13-episode order to Law & Order: Hate Crimes, from Law & Order boss Dick Wolf. Co-created with one of Wolf’s top lieutenants, former Law & Order: SVU showrunner Warren Leight, the latest Law & Order …

The Los Angeles Times reports: A 21-year-old Newport Beach man charged with murder in the stabbing death of former high school classmate Blaze Bernstein will also face a hate crime sentencing enhancement, the Orange County district attorney announced Thursday. Orange County District Atty. Tony Rackauckas said prosecutors added the hate crime enhancement based on allegations that Samuel Woodward killed 19-year-old …

The Idaho Inlander reports: A Hayden, Idaho, man has been arrested and charged with a hate crime stemming from an incident at a McDonald’s in Coeur d’Alene on July 12. Richard Sovenski, 52, was booked into Kootenai County jail Tuesday on one count of misdemeanor battery and one count of felony malicious harassment, Idaho’s hate crime statute, according to Coeur …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: The use of a panic defense to justify anti-LGBT violence in federal court will come to an end if new legislation introduced this week by a pair of Massachusetts Democrats becomes law. The bill, introduced by Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass.) in the U.S. House and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) in the U.S. Senate, …

The Associated Press reports: An Ohio man pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges Thursday in a deadly car attack on a crowd of protesters opposing a white nationalist rally in Virginia. James Alex Fields Jr. entered the plea during his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville after being charged last week with 30 federal crimes in …

NBC News Miami reports: The gay father of one of the men accused of beating a gay couple after Miami Beach’s Pride Parade in April is defending his son, arguing he did not act out of hate toward the LGBT community. Juan Lopez, the father of Juan Carlos Lopez, said that he raised his son along with his partner of …

The Associated Press reports: Federal hate crime charges were filed Wednesday against a man accused of plowing a car into a crowd of people protesting a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing a woman and injuring dozens more. The Department of Justice announced that an indictment returned Wednesday charges 21-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. of Maumee, Ohio, with 30 …

The Belleville News-Democrat reports: Timothy V. McLean, 34, of Glen Carbon has been charged with four counts of hate crime, three counts of institutional vandalism, one count of violating the Cemetery Protection Act, and 14 counts of criminal damage to property. McLean was arrested within 24 hours of the discovery of hundreds of swastikas painted on graves in Sunset Hill, …