A man was arrested Monday on two felonies and a hate crime charge after allegedly yelling racial slurs and threatening to "shoot and bomb" people of Middle Eastern descent at a California park the night before, authorities said.
According to 911 callers, Robert Avery, 33, who is white, also allegedly tried to run people over at at Heron Landing Park in Rancho Cordova on Sunday night, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post. Rancho Cordova is about 15 miles east of Sacramento.
Video obtained by NBC affiliate KCRA of Sacramento appears to show someone driving erratically through a park area as bystanders scream in the background. KCRA reported that the people Avery allegedly targeted were Muslim.
No one was injured, according to the sheriff’s office, which added that “witness accounts, video footage, and other evidence” led them to identify Avery as the suspect in the case.
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Avery was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on Monday and is being held on $125,000 bail, online jail records show.
State records show Avery is a registered sex offender, convicted of annoying or molesting a child under 18. It was not immediately clear if Avery was prohibited from being near parks as a result.
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