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A Kentucky man has been charged with a federal hate crime after he allegedly threatened a Palestinian American man with a loaded gun at an area restaurant this yr, in keeping with U.S. Division of Justice.
Melvin Litteral, 53 of Lexington, was arrested Monday and charged with brandishing a firearm throughout and in relation to against the law of violence and interfering in a federally protected exercise within the Japanese District of Kentucky federal court docket, in keeping with court docket data. The DOJ mentioned Litteral used force or the threat of force to intimidate and intervene with the sufferer, a Palestinian American man and training Muslim, and pulled out a gun in the course of the incident.
The incident occurred contained in the Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen restaurant on Walden Drive March 28. A Lexington police quotation mentioned Litteral pointed a handgun within the face of the sufferer after a verbal altercation which “positioned the sufferer at substantial danger of significant bodily harm or demise.”
The sufferer, Omar Shalash, recounted the incident on social media platform, X. He mentioned the altercation started after Litteral made Islamophobic feedback. One included questions towards a hostess, who Shalash mentioned he was talking to, about how a lot pork Cheddar’s sells. Litteral then requested Shalash if he owned the entire gasoline stations on the town, he mentioned on X.
Litteral was initially charged with wanton endangerment and resisting arrest in state court docket. Courtroom data present he was indicted on the costs June 18 and is scheduled to be arraigned in Fayette Circuit Courtroom in August.
Litteral might spend as much as 10 years in jail and pay a nice of as much as $250,000 if convicted of the hate crime offense, in keeping with the DOJ. The firearms cost carries a compulsory minimal jail sentence of seven years, to run consecutively to any sentence imposed for the hate crime offense, if convicted.
The FBI Louisville area workplace is investigating the case, the DOJ mentioned.
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