Two South Florida men are facing hate crime charges after Miami Beach police accused them of targeting and spraying a Jewish man with a water gun because of his faith, Local10 TV in Miami reported.
According to the Miami Beach Police Department, the incident occurred in January in the Mid-Beach area. The suspects were arrested Thursday night and early Friday morning.
An arrest report states that at approximately 1:20 a.m. on January 11, the victim was standing on the corner of 41st Street and Collins Avenue speaking with “several other members of the Jewish community who were easily identifiable due to wearing yamakas."
The victim told police he saw a black SUV, later identified as a 2017 Bentley Bentayga, pull up beside him. Inside the vehicle were the two suspects, 19 and 18, police said.
Investigators said the victim heard the two men inside the SUV “scream obscenities at the group," including “Jews! Jews!" before the front passenger pulled out a “white, blue and orange" water gun. According to the report, the victim believed the object was a real firearm and feared for his safety.
The report states that the suspect “shot an unknown liquid from the simulated firearm and struck (the victim) as well as the other persons in the party in the facial area with the unknown liquid" before the vehicle fled the scene.
Officer Christopher Bess, a spokesperson for the department, said “our victims were in fear for their (lives)" because of “the immense hate that was yelled from that vehicle."
Police said the suspects returned in the Bentley approximately 30 to 40 minutes later, at which point the victim was able to photograph the license plate.
Authorities said that after locating the 18-year-old in Miami on Thursday evening and taking him into custody, he implicated the 19-year-old as the individual who sprayed the liquid.
Police then asked the 19-year-old to come to Miami Beach Police headquarters, where he confessed to spraying the victim but claimed that the second suspect was the one who shouted “Jews! Jews!"
Both men were arrested on one count each of battery with prejudice and transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
The two appeared in court Friday afternoon and were each given a bond of $5,000.