A Washington state man threatened twice this week to unleash racist violence at a Buffalo supermarket, officials said Friday. The threats came two months after a gunman allegedly motivated by hatred of white supremacy killed 10 black people at another store in the city.
Washington man Joey David George made the threats in phone calls to a Tops supermarket on Buffalo’s Elmwood Avenue, saying he planned to use assault rifles and other weapons to kill black people in the store, according to a complaint federal criminal
Mr George, 37, of Lynwood, Washington, also told the callers that if he didn’t find people to kill at the Elmwood Avenue store, he would go to a second Tops supermarket, which was the racist’s location. massacre in May, and kill people there, says the complaint. According to the complaint, he reported a “race war” during his second call to the store.
“The Buffalo community is trying to heal from the horrific shooting at a Tops grocery store,” Nick Brown, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, said in announcing the charges against Mr. george “I can’t imagine the kind of fear these hate-fueled threats instill in those who are just trying to go about their daily lives.”
Mr. George is charged with two counts of making interstate threats for the calls to the Buffalo store and another in May to a restaurant in San Bruno, Calif., during which he said he planned to shoot black or Hispanic customers, according to the complaint.
A spokeswoman from the office of Mr. Brown said he did not believe any weapons had been recovered when Mr. George was arrested.
Mr. George made an initial appearance in Federal District Court in Seattle on Friday where he was informed of the charges and possible penalties he faces. A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday. In an email, a federal public defender representing him, Mohammad Hamoudi, declined to comment.
The Tops supermarket where the racist attack took place, on Jefferson Avenue in East Buffalo, reopened to the public last Friday. In interviews, workers described being haunted by memories of the mass shooting when they returned to their jobs there.
Some East Buffalo residents said in interviews after the attack that they did not plan to return to the Jefferson Avenue store and would shop at other Tops stores in the area if they could arrange transportation. The Elmwood Avenue store is a 15-minute drive away.
The store on Elmwood Avenue closed early and was evacuated Tuesday due to the threats, according to local reports. He was also the target of threats in May by a man who was in the store and made references to the earlier attack before asking him to leave, according to the county district attorney’s office of Erie.
In addition to the calls to the Buffalo store and the California restaurant, Mr. George made similar calls to businesses in Connecticut, Maryland and Washington state last year during which he used racial slurs and threatened to shoot customers because of his racial hatred. , officials said.
Lola Fadulu contributed reporting.