A man yelled anti-Muslim insults at a 7 Eleven worker in the Bronx on Saturday night, according to the NYPD. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
Cops said that an argument broke out when the man entered the store with outside food and proceeded to heat it up in the store microwave. He allegedly started using store condiments without permission, prompting an argument with a store clerk, a 32-year-old man.
"Don't look at me I can do whatever I want," the man allegedly told the worker. "You fucking immigrant piece of shit. You fucking Muslim, go back to your country."
The NY Post reports that the man also invoked President-elect Donald Trump, and threatened the clerk with violence. "That is why Donald Trump is president," he allegedly said. "I can kidnap you, I have a 15-year-old son who is a Blood [in reference to the gang] who can stab you."
An NYPD source said that the incident took place around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night at the 7 Eleven at 590 East Fordham Road in Belmont, contradicting earlier reports that the harassment played out on Sunday.
Reports of hate crimes across the five boroughs have increased significantly in 2016, according to the NYPD. As of November 13th, 328 hate crimes had been committed this year, compared to 250 during the same period in 2015. That number represents a 31.5 percent uptick in bias incidents. Of that total, 25 have allegedly been committed against Muslims—a 108 percent increase from last year.
"If you're going to engage in behavior like this, rest assured you’ll be arrested as quickly as possible, and we’ll work with our prosecutors to make sure they’ll be prosecuted under the hate crime statutes," NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said last month.
