A Moroccan asylum seeker, Ahmed Alid, has been convicted of murdering a pensioner in England in a rampage motivated by the conflict in Gaza. Alid stabbed the victim six times in the chest after a chance meeting on the street, eight days after Hamas terrorists launched an offensive against Israel. He also attacked his housemate and two police officers, shouting “Allahu Akbar”. The 45-year-old will be sentenced on May 17.
Gregory Fitzgerald Gibert has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the killing of 37-year-old Andrea Dospassos, whose body was discovered outside the Miami City Ballet venue on Tuesday morning. Dospassos was found with trauma and blood on her face and head, and CCTV footage shows Gibert approaching her and striking her multiple times with a metal pipe. Gibert, who was out on felony probation at the time of the incident, was identified as the suspect and taken into custody. Dospassos’s stepfather expressed concern that the attack may have been a hate crime due to her transgender identity and homelessness.
The Kensington Police Department is investigating a suspected hate-motivated offense after an anti-Black slur was found on a footbridge near the Confederation Trail in central Prince Edward Island. The incident was reported to the police by the Royal Canadian Legion after a walker noticed the graffiti on a wooden bridge connecting a legion park to the trail. The graffiti is believed to have been added within the last few weeks, and police are seeking footage from video surveillance cameras and asking people with doorbell cameras to check for possible evidence. Constable James Gotell stated that the footbridge leads to a park where the Royal Canadian Legion maintains a war memorial, and that other graffiti in the area may have been done by the same person. The police are dedicating significant resources to the investigation and are urging anyone with information to come forward.
A Bronx man arrested for eight attacks on women in Manhattan since February has been released without bail. The suspect, 31-year-old Daquan Armstead, allegedly made misogynistic comments to police, claiming he needed to “check” women to keep them in line. Armstead’s victims ranged in age from 24 to 44, and the attacks included an incident in Greenwich Village captured on viral video. Despite being released without bail in the past, Armstead now faces a $20,000 bail and additional charges of assault as a hate crime.
Dwight-Englewood School, an elite private school in Englewood, New Jersey, was temporarily closed on Wednesday, October 12th, 2023, following the discovery of racist and threatening graffiti messages in a boys’ bathroom. The graffiti threatened the entire school and referenced minority students and faculty. The Englewood Police Department and Bergen County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the incident. This is the second such incident at the school in the past month.
Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey, has been temporarily closed after a threatening message targeting the black and Hispanic communities was discovered written on a bathroom wall on Monday evening. The school administration reported the incident to law enforcement and is cooperating with the ongoing investigation. In addition to continuing the investigation, the extra day of closure will allow administrators to provide support and reassurance to faculty and staff. This is not the first racism-related incident at the school, as a group of seventh-grade boys were previously involved in a group text chat involving racist jokes and other offensive language. Parents are concerned about the lack of information regarding the nature of the threat, while the school has emphasized the implementation of additional security measures to ensure the safety of the community.
A 32-year-old man in Paris has been arrested and charged with kidnapping, raping, and torturing a Jewish woman in an appalling display of anti-Semitism. According to local reports, the suspect claimed to be acting to “avenge Palestine.” The investigation revealed the suspect held the victim captive, threatening her with prostitution and death to avenge Palestine. The victim alerted authorities, who identified and arrested the suspect. While the kidnapping charges have been confirmed, the rape allegations remain under investigation. The suspect will appear before court on June 21.
On March 21, a man in Oshawa, Ontario, was allegedly attacked with bear spray and subjected to racial slurs while sitting in his car. The victim, who was minding his own business, rolled down his window when approached by a stranger. The suspect then sprayed the victim with bear spray, uttered racial slurs, and fled on foot, causing minor injuries to the victim. The Durham Regional Police are investigating the incident as a “hate/bias motivated” crime and are seeking a white male suspect between 35 and 40 years old with a thin build and wearing a fitted black toque.
Three teenagers have been spared jail time after pleading guilty to vandalizing the Rochdale Cenotaph, a war memorial, by spray-painting the words ‘Free Palestine’ and draping a Palestinian flag over the structure. The incident occurred in November 2022. Despite initially denying the racially aggravated nature of their actions, the teens later changed their pleas and were sentenced to six-month referral orders, along with compensation and court costs. The Crown Prosecution Service discontinued the trial due to evidential reasons.
On Eid al-Fitr, a 24-year-old New Jersey man allegedly broke into and vandalized Rutgers University’s Islamic student center, causing $40,000 in damage. Jacob Beacher, who has been arrested and charged, is not a student at Rutgers. The incident has sparked concerns about rising anti-Muslim sentiment, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations reporting a 56% increase in hate incidents in 2023.
