Lynnwood man indicted on hate crime after making violent threats toward Black, Hispanic communities

A 37-year-old Lynnwood man on Wednesday was indicted by a federal grand jury for a hate crime and four counts of interstate threats, according to U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Joey George, who is at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, will be arraigned next week Thursday for threatening to shoot Black and Hispanic people at a Tops Friendly Markets store in Buffalo, New York, the same chain where 10 people were fatally shot in May.

George is accused of telephoning the store and threatening to shoot all the Black people inside, including women, children and babies.

“He called the next day again to that same store and said he was going to start a race war and that he intended to kill these people,” U.S Attorney for the Western District of Washington Nick Brown said.

In addition to calling the store, court documents state George called a restaurant in San Bruno, California, where he told an employee he would shoot all the Black and Hispanic people inside if they weren’t out of the restaurant in 20 minutes.

Police in San Bruno called back the number George used. George provided a fake name and told an officer over the phone he wanted to attack Black people and strike fear into the Bay Area’s Black community.

Documents also state George made similar phone calls to other places in the country, including western Washington.

George is also being charged with making interstate threats to a business in Maryland and threatening to bomb a restaurant in Connecticut.

According to legal officials, making interstate threats is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Brown says the number of hate crimes and racial threats has gotten worse in the United States.