Ann Arbor— A 21-year-old Muslim woman said she was the victim of a hate crime as she drove along State Street on Sunday morning.
The woman, who wears a head scarf, or hijab, told Ann Arbor police she was in her car at the intersection of State Street and Eisenhower Parkway when a driver in a black Dodge Ram truck behind her started honking and later pulled up beside her, where he hurled insults.
“I laughed about it, honestly, because it happens so much wearing a scarf that it didn’t bug me,” said Aisha. The Detroit News is not using her last name because of her fears of retaliation.
The comments, she said, included “You don’t belong here,” “You are a terrorist” and “Your people need to be killed.”
Aisha said she dialed 911 on her cellphone and when she looked back, saw that the driver was pointing a handgun at her.
Police ran a check of the license plate, but could not find a match, she said. Police said only that they were looking into the incident.
The woman, a nursing student, also reported the incident to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which asked the FBI to investigate.
“No people in America, be they Christian or a part of a religious minority, should be subjected to such threats because of their religion or faith,” said Dawud Walid, executive director for CAIR Michigan.
“For any individual to be taunted because of their religion and have a firearm pointed at them is a hate crime in our mind. This is an individual who’s a threat not just to Muslims, but to society at large, and they need to be apprehended.”
The FBI would not confirm or deny it was looking into the incident, said FBI special agent Sandra Berchtold.
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21-year-old Muslim woman says she was the victim of a hate crime in Ann Arbor
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) – A 21-year-old Muslim woman who does not want to be identified tells Action News a man pulled a gun on her and used hateful slurs against her during a ride home from work.
The woman, who wears a traditional Islamic headscarf, said she was stopped at the intersection of S. State Street and Eisenhower Sunday morning when a man started honking his car horn at her.
“I’m at the light and it’s red and the guy behind me is just honking. And I was like it’s a red light.”
From there the situation escalated.
“He pulled up next to me, called me a terrorist, said I don’t belong here. He said I need to go back to my own country, that my people need to die,” the young woman told Action News. “He started swerving into my lane. I called police and when he saw me on the phone he pulled a gun out and the gun was pointed directly at me.”
The apparent victim got away uninjured. During the incident she was able to get a plate number to police, but Ann Arbor investigators say they haven’t been able to track it down. It’s possible that during the tense situation the victim made a mistake or police took down the wrong information.
The horrific reality of the ordeal has barely set in.
“I think at first it didn’t hit me. But now reality has set in – it has hit me, my life flashed before my eyes and I didn’t realize it.”
The victim describes the suspect as a white male with blonde hair and stubble. He was driving a black pick-up, possibly a Dodge Ram.
The Michigan Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling on the F.B.I. to join the investigation.
