Washington sources have stated that man in Florida tried to burn down a convenience store owned by Indian-Americans because he thought the owners were Muslims. Richard Lloyd had told the police officials that he wanted to “run the Arabs out of our country” so he pushed a dumpster in front of the Port St. Lucie store on Friday and set the contents on fire, St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said in a news release posted on Facebook.
It was stated that the fire was put out quickly and didn’t cause much damage since the store was closed and protected by security shutters. Lloyd had told detectives he assumed the owner was a Muslim and that angered him because of “what they are doing in the Middle East,” Mascara said.
The sheriff had said “It’s unfortunate that Lloyd made the
assumption that the store owners were Arabic when, in fact, they are of Indian
descent" and Lloyd’s mental health will be evaluated and the state
attorney’s office will decide if this was a hate crime.
Meanwhile Lloyd was charged with first-degree arson and booked into the St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of a $30,000 bond. According to CNN affiliate WPEC, Lloyd told investigators he tried to buy a bottle of Tropicana orange pineapple juice at the store a few days ago but was told they didn’t have any. He was also upset because he assumed that the store employee was a Muslim.
