The black-white divide has again emerged from the shadows to disrupt the peace, as a black man shot dead three white people who he chose at random. He stalked the streets of downtown Fresno armed with a .357 revolver and picked his targets at random while referring to the white people as “devils.” In his opinion the shootings represented a war between blacks and whites in America and another hate crime has taken place.
Police admit it is a hate crime
According to Los Angeles Times, the Police Chief of Fresno has indicated that the attack was not an act of terrorism but a hate crime.
This is borne out of the fact that before he surrendered to the police, he is believed to have shouted “Allahu akbar” and also expressed hatred toward white people and the government of America.
It took less than two minutes to kill the three whites and the suspect fired a total of 16 shots. Later, he surrendered to the police and also apologized to the chief. He is suspected to have carried out another shooting last week – the victim was an unarmed 25-year-old security guard who also happened to be white.
On social media, the shooter expressed his thoughts and feelings, as well as hatred toward whites, which is evident from the lyrics of one of his rap albums. He refers to whites as "devils" and fancies himself a "black soldier," and his rap album has violent, explicit, racially-charged lyrics.
The suspect had criminal leanings
The Fresno incident is not the first time that the suspect was on the wrong side of the law. In 2005, he was indicted by a federal grand jury for being in possession of drugs and firearms. However, at that time, a federal judge declared him mentally incompetent to stand trial. The following year, he was deemed competent and he pleaded guilty to charges of possessing cocaine and weapons, and served 92 months in federal prison.
The fallout from this incident has yet to be determined, but, with the current climate in America, incidents like this will only further exacerbate racial tension moving forward.
