A New York woman faces a number of hate crime charges after she allegedly attacked two Muslim mothers as they pushed their babies in strollers in Brooklyn on Thursday, prosecutors said.
Emirjeta Xhelili, 32, allegedly screamed Islamophobic insults as she approached the women, ages 23 and 24, around 1:30 p.m. near 20th Avenue and Cropsey Avenue in Bath Beach, according to the New York Daily News.
“Get the f—k out of here,” Xhelili allegedly hurled at the pair, it reported. “Get the f—k out of America, b—–s.”
She pounced on the two victims, punching them in the face and body and kicking their legs. In addition, she tried to rip the hijab from the victims’ heads.
“This is the United States of America, you’re not supposed to be different from us,” she said, according to the Daily Mail.
CNN reported Xhelili also attacked the women’s babies by pushing one of their strollers to the ground and rattling another. Neither the victims nor their children were seriously injured.
“She didn’t even care for the well-being of a baby – that’s how serious this hate crime is,” Assistant District Attorney Kelli Muse said, according to the New York Daily News.
The attacker was arrested half an hour later when the victims pointed her out a few blocks away, it reported. However, Muse said Xhelili continued to taunt them in front of authorities while in custody.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office ruled the incident as a hate crime, according to CNN. Xhelili faces charges for assault, reckless endangerment of a child and harassment. She is held on a $50,000 bond or $25,000 cash bail.
Judge Lorna McAllister also issued an order of protection forbidding Xhelili from having any contact with the victims or their children.
Meanwhile Afaf Nasher, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations of New York is calling for justice.
“We urge the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office to prosecute this horrific attack vigorously, sending the message that hate attacks targeting any minority group will not be tolerated,”’ Nasher said, according to CNN.
“We urge mosques and Islamic institutions to increase security mesasures, particularly this weekend as the nation marks the solemn occasion of the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, which some may use as an excuse to attack American-Muslims,” he added.
Xhelili has no previous arrests and is an employee at Noi Due, a kosher Italian restaurant on the Upper west site, according to the New York Daily News.
