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Man called stores, threatened to shoot Black people: feds

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A Washington man made calls to stores and restaurants around the country threatening to shoot Black customers, federal prosecutors said.

A Washington man placed calls to stores and restaurants around the United States and threatened to shoot Black customers inside, according to federal prosecutors.

Joey David George, 37, pleaded guilty on Nov. 7 to making interstate threats, hate crime and interference with a federally protected activity, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.

On at least three occasions in July, George placed calls to grocery stores in Buffalo, New York, and threatened to shoot Black customers inside, prosecutors said. This was two months after a racially motivated mass shooting at Tops supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo left 10 people dead.

When George placed the calls, he told store staff members to “take him seriously” and ordered them to leave the store because he was “nearby” and “preparing to shoot all Black customers,” the release says.

During one of the calls, he told an employee that he “was a really good shot” and that he could “pick off people from the parking lot,” according to a criminal complaint.

Attorneys representing George did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Authorities accused George of making threats in other states, as well.

In May, authorities said he called a restaurant in San Bruno, California, about 10 miles south of San Francisco, and threatened to shoot Black or Hispanic patrons inside if the restaurant didn’t close within 20 minutes, the complaint says.

When investigators contacted him by phone, he gave a fake name and told them he wanted to “strike fear into the Bay Area’s Black community” and that he thought Black people were “sub-human,” according to the complaint.

He is accused of making other threats in 2021 to marijuana dispensaries in Washington and Maryland. On Sept. 11, 2021, he called a dispensary in Rockville, Maryland, about 40 miles southwest of Baltimore, used a racial slur and threatened to shoot Black people at the business, the complaint says.

The dispensary temporarily closed and hired security, causing the business to lose more than $50,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He also made a call to a Denny’s restaurant in Enfield, Connecticut, about 20 miles north of Hartford, on Sept. 11, 2021, asked if any Black people were inside the restaurant and then threatened to throw a bomb through the window, the complaint says.

George is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on Dec. 16. The charge of making interstate threats can carry a sentence of up to five years in prison, and interference with a federally protected activity can carry up to 10 years in prison, according to prosecutors.

Madeleine List is a McClatchy National Real-Time reporter. She has reported for the Cape Cod Times and the Providence Journal.



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