An Oregon man, spewing anti-Islamic slurs, trashed a convenience store and threatened to gun down its clerk in an ugly confrontation captured on viral video, authorities said Monday.
Brian Christopher Miller, 43, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree criminal mischief and third-degree robbery, both felonies, according to Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office jail records.
The Portland man was booked into jail on Friday night before being released on his own recognizance on Saturday, jail records showed.
Miller could hit with more charges, including a hate crime offenses, by the time he appears in a Portland courtroom late Monday afternoon, a spokesman for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said.
Seemab Hussaini, vice chairman of the Oregon chapter of Council on American–Islamic Relations, said he’s been in touch with the clerk’s relatives, who can’t understand why Miller wasn’t immediately charged with a bias crime.
“When this man was arrested they (the clerk’s family) were not aware this man was being released so quickly,” Hussaini told NBC News. “And the charges do not acknowledge the violence the victim was subjected to. What truly upsets the family is the inability to acknowledge the true nature of the crime, at least for now.”
The clerk, a senior citizen and immigrant from Afghanistan, shot video of the incident before his son published it on YouTube, Hussaini said.
Footage showed a mask-less man bearing a bearing a strong resemblance to Miller toppling displays, damaging the cash register, ripping down Covid-protection barriers, throwing food at the clerk and yelling: “I’ll f–king shoot you in the back.”
“Is that how we do things in America, Afghan? Al-Qaeda? Osama?” the menacing man said. “I don’t want your f–king cigarettes now dude. But here let’s call the the barter system. Five f–king dollars? You can owe me, you can owe me. You call the f–king cops. I’m an easy man to find.”
And he was, as police arrested Miller just outside the Chevron convenience store at 14440 S.E. Division St., officials said.
By the time he was processed into custody, Miller had lost his shirt and was bare-chested as a jail photographer snapped the booking photograph.
“Mr. Miller arrived (to jail) without a shirt on,” Multnomah County Sheriff’s Communications Director Chris Liedle said. “During the booking process, he was uncooperative, intoxicated and making threatening, self-harm statements. After completing the booking process, he was provided a protective smock and placed in a cell under watch.”
Miller did not return several voice mails and text messages seeking his comment on Monday.
The clerk’s family is grateful that a female customer outside the store called 911 and a dispatcher worked quickly to get police to the scene, Hussaini said. The attack came two days before the one-year anniversary of the victim’s 42-year-old daughter dying suddenly of sepsis, according to Hussaini.
“It’s been a very stressful time for him,” Hussaini said.
Ali Gostanian contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
