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A Seattle-area man has been charged with threatening to kill black people at a Tops Friendly Markets store in Buffalo, days after another Tops location, the site of an allegedly racially motivated massacre in May, is reopened to the public.
Joey David George, 37, is accused of making a pair of threatening calls to a grocery store on Elmwood Avenue on July 19 and 20, allegedly identifying himself as “Peter” and asking about the number of black people at the store, according to a criminal complaint filed in Seattle federal court.
George allegedly commented in the first call that he would be on the news if he “shot and killed all the black people, including all the women, children and babies” in the grocery store. He told an employee he was near or inside the place, court documents say.
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When asked if the store had been evacuated, George said he would choose to attack the store where the May 14 mass shooting occurred, which is located on Jefferson Avenue, if there were no black people to shoot the Elmwood store when he got there.
Tops spokeswoman Kathleen Sautter said the Elmwood store was closed and evacuated as a result of the threat and the Buffalo Police Department responded. “We take all threats seriously and our team works with local law enforcement agencies to assess threats and react accordingly,” he said.
A public defender assigned to represent George, who was expected to appear before a judge in Seattle Friday afternoon, could not immediately be reached.
The Tops on Jefferson Avenue, in a predominantly black neighborhood long considered a food desert, reopened to the public after a renovation on July 15. A 19-year-old man from the Binghamton, NY area, Payton Gendron, is charged with murder. 10 black people and three other people injured in the store on May 14. He faces multiple murder, hate crime and other charges in state and federal court.
According to court documents, George allegedly made a second call to the Tops store on Elmwood Avenue the day after making the threat. He allegedly “ranted about a race war” and said, “This is what happens in a blue state.”
Nick Brown, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, said in a statement that Buffalo is “trying to heal from the horrific shooting” on May 14 and that he “cannot imagine the kind of fear that this hate feed the threats engendered in those who only try.” to go about their daily lives”.
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George also faces charges for allegedly making racially charged threats at a restaurant in San Bruno, California, on May 12. He allegedly said in a phone call to Shari’s Restaurant and Pies that he would shoot all black and Hispanic customers if the store was not closed within 20 minutes.
When a San Bruno police officer spoke with George, who went by the alias “Tony Sumorrah,” he told the officer that he wanted to scare black people in the Bay Area and that black people are “subhuman.”
Justice Department officials also alleged that George made threats to a marijuana dispensary in Rockville, Md. Denny’s in Connecticut in September. He also allegedly made a phone threat to a Seattle dispensary in January.
Using a derogatory term for black people, George, using the pseudonym “David Lester,” allegedly told the Verilife dispensary in Rockville on Sept. 11 that he would “shoot and kill” black customers there. When the store manager tried to de-escalate the threats on a call with George, the suspect allegedly responded threatening a specific employee, “accurately describing the employee’s appearance, including his skin tone.”