12-year-old accused of a hate crime after two Muslim students are attacked at their Connecticut middle school
A 12-year-old student is facing a hate crime charge in juvenile court after allegedly being part of a group that attacked twin seventh grade Muslim students at their middle school in Waterbury, Connecticut, authorities said Friday.
The girl allegedly involved in the altercation was charged with intimidation based on bigotry and bias in the first and second degree through a court-issued summons to juvenile court.
'Investigators determined that the altercation was motivated by religion and/or ethnicity, meeting the legal definition of a hate crime,' according to a joint statement by the Waterbury State's Attorney's Office, Waterbury police and city officials.
The twin 13-year-old girls had their hijabs pulled off and were kicked and punched in the girls' locker room during their gym period, according to Farhan Memon, chair of the Connecticut chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
'They were beaten up by two of their classmates,' Memon said. 'One girl had bruises on her face and her sister had something held against her neck.'
One of the girls felt something slide across her neck, resulting in an abrasion on her neck, Memon told CNN. The girls' father took them to the hospital where doctors documented bruises and scrapes to the face, nose and neck, Memon added.
Another student involved 'was referred to a youth diversionary program as an alternative to arrest, based on her involvement in the incident,' the city said in its statement.
It's unclear if the two juveniles have appeared in juvenile court, or if they have legal representation.
Waterbury Public Schools Interim Superintendent Darren Schwartz in a statement said the incident is 'an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to ensure our students are safe and respectful of one another.'
The incident, which unfolded during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, comes as Muslims report a record-high number of anti-Arab and Islamophobic bias in the United States.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations in its annual civil rights report released last week said it received 8,658 complaints of Islamophobia last year – the highest number ever recorded by the organization.
The twins' family contacted CAIR one day after the locker room attack, leading to the nonprofit's involvement in the situation, Memon said.
While Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski said the attack at the middle school was an 'isolated incident,' CAIR says it wasn't the first time the twins – who immigrated with their parents to the US from Egypt last year – had faced bullying from their peers over their religion and ethnicity.
'Although the sisters are not fluent in English, they confirmed that in the weeks leading up to the incident, students—including the girls who allegedly assaulted them—used terms such as 'Arab,' 'Muslim,' and 'Hijab' while laughing and making gestures at them,' CAIR wrote in a letter to officials on March 18.
Just days before the locker room attack, the twins had reported threats by the same student who has since been charged in the attack who allegedly 'dragg(ed) her finger across her neck in a death sign,' according to a letter sent by CAIR to city officials.
CNN has reached out to Waterbury Public Schools for comment.
Police originally investigated the incident as a disturbance or assault, but the family later provided more information alleging their daughters were the victims of a hate crime, leading to a 'thorough' investigation of the claims, according to the police department.
'Every student deserves to feel secure and respected in their learning environment, and we will continue to work closely with our school partners to uphold that standard,' Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo wrote in a statement.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Socialist NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani once rapped about his ‘love' for Hamas teror-funding group ‘Holy Land Five'
Socialist NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani once voiced his 'love' for the five leaders of a notorious nonprofit convicted of funneling more than $12 million to the terror group Hamas. The former C-list rapper-turned-far-left-pol praised the heads of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development – known as the 'Holy Land Five'– in a shocking 2017 rap track uncovered by the antisemitism-fighting group Canary Mission, and made public in a one-minute video segment released Friday. 'My love to the Holy Land Five. You better look 'em up,' the Queens assemblyman – who performed under the stage name Mr. Cardamom – says in a song called 'Salaam,' which the Queens assemblyman said is about growing up Muslim in New York. Advertisement NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (in middle) appearing a rap video for his song 'Nani' when he went by 'Mr. Cardamom.' Mr. Cardamom/Youtube The five heads of the now-defunct Texas based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development — Shukri Abu Baker, Mohammad El-Mezain, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh — were all convicted in 2008 by a federal jury of funding Hamas, according to the Canary Mission. 'Mamdani sent his 'love' to convicted Hamas funders,' the Canary Mission video says. 'Let that sink in.' Advertisement The quintet were convicted of supporting terrorism, tax fraud, money laundering and other charges. The sentencing ranged from 15 to 65 years in prison for each. In another part of the track, the Israel-hating Mamdani — who is polling a strong second in nearly all polls heading into Tuesday's Democratic mayoral primary behind only ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo — raps, 'No ban. No wall. Build it up. We'll make it fall.' The antisemitism-fighting group responds in the video saying:' No ban, no wall—that's an open door for criminals and chaos.' 'Zohran Mamdani stands with convicted terrorist funders and wants open borders,' the group adds. Advertisement 'This is New York City — not a sanctuary for terrorists. Zohran Mamdani. Unfit. Un-American. Unthinkable.' Curtis Sliwa, a Republican mayoral candidate, said 'it's alarming that a mayoral candidate has a history of praising Hamas.' 'New Yorkers reject hate and extremism, and they should reject any candidate who refuses to do the same,' he added. Reps for Mamdani's campaign did not return messages Saturday.
Politico
4 hours ago
- Politico
‘Petty and unserious': Padilla blasts Vance for calling him ‘Jose Padilla'
Sen. Alex Padilla snapped back at Vice President JD Vance Saturday, calling the vice president 'petty and unserious' after Vance referred to the senator as 'Jose' during a press conference in Los Angeles the previous evening. The squabble between Padilla and Vance is the latest clash between Trump administration officials and California Democrats as hostilities brew over President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration in the city, which has seen numerous ICE sweeps and significant counterprotests in recent weeks. 'He knows my name,' Padilla told MSNBC Saturday morning. 'Look, sadly it's just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is. He's the vice president of the United States. You'd think he'd take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously.' Vance visited Los Angeles on Friday amid the heightened tensions, meeting with federal law enforcement and Marines his administration called in to quiet anti-ICE protests in the city, a move that prompted backlash from Democrats. During a speech in which the vice president defended the administration's decision to call in National Guard troops — which a federal appeals court upheld this week — Vance also bashed his former Senate colleague, who was handcuffed and removed from a press briefing with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last week after attempting to question the secretary. 'I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question, but unfortunately I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn't the theater,' Vance said, deriding Padilla's handcuffing at Noem's briefing the prior week as 'pure political theater.' Vance's press secretary, Taylor Van Kirk, said that the vice president misspoke and 'must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.' Padilla, the senator, was not charged after the incident at Noem's press conference. It isn't clear who Van Kirk could be referring to, but a Jose Padilla was convicted over 15 years ago of conspiracy to commit murder and fund terrorism. California Democrats were having none of it. 'JD Vance served with Alex Padilla in the United States Senate,' Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a post on X. 'Calling him 'Jose Padilla' is not an accident.' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass pulled no punches at a press conference later on Friday, denouncing Vance's earlier statement. 'Mr. Vice President, how dare you disrespect our senator,' Bass said. 'I guess he just looks like anybody to you,' the mayor continued, appearing to reference the underlying racialized tone of Vance's comment. Padilla also addressed his former Senate colleague-turned vice president directly in a post to X, flipping Vance's jab about 'political theater' back at him. 'You know my name, @JDVance,' the California senator wrote. 'If you want to talk about political theater, let's start with the thousands of troops that your administration is using as props in Los Angeles.'
USA Today
6 hours ago
- USA Today
Two days of terror: How the Minnesota shooter evaded police and got caught
NEW HOPE, Minnesota, June 21 (Reuters) - Vance Boelter's disguise wasn't perfect. The silicone mask was somewhat loose-fitting and his SUV's license plate simply read "POLICE" in black letters. But it was good enough on a poorly lit suburban street in the dead of night. At 2:36 a.m. on Saturday, 30 minutes after authorities say Boelter shot and seriously injured Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, he paused behind the wheel of the SUV near the home of another senator, Ann Rest, in the city of New Hope. The SUV was stocked with weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles, as well as fliers advertising a local anti-Trump rally scheduled for later Saturday and a written list of names of people he appeared to be targeting. Senator Rest, prosecutors would later say, was among those Boelter set out to kill on June 14. As Boelter sat in the SUV down the street from Rest's home, another police car - this one an actual police car - approached. A female officer from the New Hope police department, after hearing about the Hoffman shootings, had come out to check on Rest. Seeing the SUV, complete with flashing lights and police-style decals, she believed the man inside was a fellow officer. But when she attempted to speak to him - one officer greeting another - she got no response. Instead, the man inside the SUV with police markings simply stared ahead. The New Hope officer drove on, deciding to go ahead and check on Rest. Rest would later say the New Hope officer's initiative probably saved her life, an opinion shared by New Hope Police Chief Timothy Hoyt. "With limited information, she went up there on her own to check on the welfare of our senator," Hoyt told Reuters. "She did the right thing." The brief interaction in New Hope underscored the carefully planned nature of Boelter's pre-dawn rampage and how his impersonation of a police officer, including body armor, a badge and a tactical vest, confounded the initial attempts to stop him. After the encounter with the New Hope officer, Boelter, 57, drove away from the scene, moving on to his next target. Police would pursue him for another 43 hours. In the process, they would draw in a phalanx of state and federal agencies, in what ranks as the largest manhunt in Minnesota history and added to the sense of disorientation in a nation already grappling with protests over immigration, the forcible removal of a U.S. Senator from a press conference and a rare military parade in Washington. Federal prosecutors say they may seek the death penalty for Boelter, who has been charged with murdering two people and trying to kill two others, in what Governor Tim Walz has called a "politically motivated" attack. Prosecutors said they are still investigating the motive and whether any others were involved. Boelter has yet to enter a plea. Manny Atwal, a public defender representing Boelter, said he was reviewing the case and declined to comment. This reconstruction of the manhunt is based on court documents, statements by law enforcement officials, and interviews with a Boelter friend, local police officers, lawmakers, and residents of the impacted neighborhoods. While the events unfolded like something out of a TV crime drama, there were parallels with past shooting sprees, criminal justice experts said. James Fitzgerald, a former FBI criminal profiler, said he would not be surprised if Boelter studied a mass shooting in Canada in 2020, when a gunman posing as a police officer killed 22 people in the province of Nova Scotia. "These guys always do research beforehand. They want to see how other killers were successful, how they got caught," said Fitzgerald, who helped the FBI capture the "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski in 1996. "And, of course, a way you're going to buy yourself some time is to pose as a police officer." Hoffman Shooting The violence began at the Hoffman's brick split-level home in Champlin, a leafy, middle-class suburb of Minneapolis. With his emergency lights flashing, Boelter pulled into the driveway just after 2:00 a.m. and knocked on the door. "This is the police. Open the door," Boelter shouted repeatedly, according to an FBI affidavit. Senator Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, soon determined Boelter was not a real police officer. Boelter shot Senator Hoffman nine times, and then fired on Yvette, who shielded her daughter from being hit. As Boelter fled the scene, the daughter called 911. The Hoffmans were on a target list of more than 45 federal and state elected officials in Minnesota, all Democrats, acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson told a briefing on Monday. Boelter voted for President Donald Trump, was a Christian and did not like abortion, according to his part-time roommate, David Carlson. Carlson said Boelter did not seem angry about politics. Thompson said Boelter "stalked his victims like prey" but that the writings he left behind did not point to a coherent motive. "His crimes are the stuff of nightmares," he said. "His crimes are the stuff of nightmares," Thompson said. After the Hoffman's, the next address plugged into Boelter's GPS system was a lawmaker about 9 miles away in the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove. Surveillance cameras from the home of State Representative Kristin Bahner show a masked Boelter ringing the doorbell at 2:24 a.m. and shouting "Open the door. This is the police. We have a warrant," the FBI affidavit says. Bahner and her family were not at home. From there, Boelter moved on to New Hope and the close encounter with the officer who had dispatched to Rest's home. After that, he wasn't seen by police again until he arrived at the residence of Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the state House, in Brooklyn Park. Sensing that Hortman might be a target, Brooklyn Park police officers had decided to check on her. When they arrived at 3:30 a.m. they saw a black Ford Explorer outside her house, its police-style lights flashing. Boelter was near the front door. When Boelter saw the officers exit their squad car, he fired at them. He then ran through the front door on the house, where he killed Melissa and Mark Hortman, her husband. When Boelter left the Hortman's home, he abandoned his fake-police SUV. Inside the car, police found a 9mm handgun, three AK-47 assault rifles, fliers advertising a local anti-Trump "No Kings" rally and a notebook with names of people who appear to have been targets, according to court documents. From that point, Boelter was on the run. Little has been revealed about his movements during the period, although police say he visited his part-time residence in north Minneapolis. He also sent texts. In one, to his family's group chat, Boelter writes, "Dad went to war last night". In another, to a close friend, Boelter says he may be dead soon. Police also know that by early morning on Saturday Boelter had met a man at a Minneapolis bus stop who agreed to sell him an e-bike and a Buick sedan for $900. The two drove to a bank where Boelter withdrew $2,200 from his account. A security camera shows Boelter wearing a cowboy hat. But it took until 10:00 a.m. on Sunday for authorities to close in. Police searching the area near Boelter's family home in the rural community of Green Isle, discovered the abandoned Buick, along with a cowboy hat and handwritten letter to the FBI in which Boelter admitted to the shootings, prosecutors said. Law enforcement scrambled to set up a perimeter surrounding the area, SWAT teams and search dogs were deployed, and drones were put in the air. It was the trail camera of a resident, however, that provided the final clue, capturing an image of Boelter around 7:00 p.m., allowing officers to narrow their search. Two hours later, the pursuit ended with Boelter crawling to police. He was armed but surrendered without a fight. (reporting by Nathan Layne and Tom Polansek in Minneapolis and Joseph Ax in New York; editing by Paul Thomasch and Nick Zieminski)
