Posted on 04/26/2010 12:51:35 AM PDT by Maelstorm
SAN FRANCISCO — Three Hayward cousins have pleaded guilty to shooting a man in the face with a BB gun because they thought he was gay, and were sentenced to six months in jail.
Mohammad Habibzada, 24, Shafiq Hashemi, 21, and Sayed Bassam, 21, also will be on probation for three years and must complete as much as 400 hours of community service, including 40 hours of hate-crime sensitivity training, according to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.
Police said the men went to San Francisco on Feb. 26 armed with an air rifle and video camera, targeting people who they thought were gay, including a man who was standing outside a Mission District bar smoking a cigarette.
They shot the man in the cheek and were caught soon after when the victim — while giving a report to police — spotted their car still in the area.
The victim was not seriously injured, police said.
Investigators found the rifle and camera, which contained footage of 11 additional attacks that appeared to occur in San Francisco.
There was not enough evidence to pursue charges in the other attacks, said Brian Buckelew of the District Attorney's Office.
"It was unclear whether anyone was hit, and because no one came forward, we can't do anything with that," he said.
The men pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of negligent discharge of a BB gun, but with a hate-crime enhancement.
"Normally the charge would be a misdemeanor, Advertisement Quantcast but with the hate-crime allegation, it becomes a felony," Buckelew said. "That's why (the allegation) is important."
The men had been charged with three felony counts and one misdemeanor, including assault with a deadly weapon with a hate-crime enhancement, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence and attempted mayhem.
Buckelew said the settlement offer was made after considering input from community groups, the victim, the seriousness of the injury and the seriousness of specifically targeting people based on their sexual orientation. He said they also took into account the age, lack of criminal history and remorsefulness shown by the defendants.
The men will be formally sentenced May 13.
"They shot the man in the cheek and were caught soon after when the victim — while giving a report to police — spotted their car still in the area. The victim was not seriously injured, police said.
Investigators found the rifle and camera, which contained footage of 11 additional attacks that appeared to occur in San Francisco.
There was not enough evidence to pursue charges in the other attacks, said Brian Buckelew of the District Attorney's Office."
2 things you’re wrong on Maelstrom
1) Current federal hate crimes protects against crimes motivated, “on the basis of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.”
So if a group of individuals decide, “Hey, let’s go attack some white guys”, that could still be a hate crime because its targeting people based on race/color/gender.
2) It isn’t a felony only because the targets were thought to be gay. Its a felony because of a charge like, “discharge of a firearm with gross negligence” and “attempted mayhem”.
I dont know why you think its funny some sick weirdos thought it was ok to go shoot at gay people in san francisco. that’s awful.
The oh so tolerant Muslims mix it up with the oh so tolerant gays, who are taking a break from assaulting Prop. 8 supporters.
LOL, Muzzies are not very deep thinkers. A BB gun is not the weapon of choice if you're going to be rampaging ;^)
I think that your use of "could" instead of "would" is pretty funny.
When Sacred Cows Collide...
You know, Happy Rain,
You don’t have to be real gay,
To think this is wrong...
1 thing you are not getting ca209guy, Maelstrom was overemphasizing to make a point. Calm down Francis.
You just signed up today to make this your first post? Just some advice, before jumping on a person or group of people, make sure you understand what is going on first.
What people find funny is the stupidity of these religious zealots who not only don’t see why it might be a good idea to leave the scene of a crime they committed, but made the concerted effort to incriminate themselves by recording all their attacks and carrying it around with them.
Just curious, you seem to agree with hate crime legislation. Do you think that letting bureaucrats make judgements on “perception” of someone’s motives in any kind of issue is a good idea? Why is an attack on someone that takes place because they simply “looked vulnerable” somehow less heinous than an attack on someone because they “looked homosexual”?
???
Please show me one or two examples of ethnic on white violence enhanced as a "hate crime".
Especially since in his other post since joining today, he identifies himself as a "liberal".
i am a liberal and i think that .....
You’re right. A crime should be standardized across actions. This whole “perceived” thing is just wrong and arbitrary. It should be sued out of existence.
What troubles me the most, though, is this part of the article: “40 hours of hate-crime sensitivity training”.
Who decides what that is? It sounds like re-education camps. You should be able to think as you like. Battery and assault are completely different. This is a religious belief taken over the line. The punishment goes too far as well in trying to realign the mind.
I’m one of many who don’t see the point in “hate crime” laws. I don’t care whether some black/Hispanic/Asian/white kid was assaulted/shot because of his skin color or his wallet, either way the criminals should be locked up for a VERY long time. Why would it be worse to choose a victim based on certain actual or perceived traits than to choose based on other actual or perceived traits? I’d seriously like to hear your answer.
Also, as a technical note, air guns are not considered firearms, since firearms require an explosive charge.
Not because of any animosity I have towards gay people, but because if they had been attacking straight white men, the SF cops would have patted them on the head, handed their BB guns back, and filed the crime under "Oh, those wild and crazy Muslim kids...."
Good that they were locked up. I'm not entirely happy about the hate-crime aspect of the case, but that's a discussion for another day.
BTW, this is the first that I've heard of the event. IMHO, I'd call it terrorism.
IBTZ.
Me too... IBTZ
The men pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of negligent discharge of a BB gun, but with a hate-crime enhancement.
Screw the "hate crime" angle. It's assault and battery. Should be good for plenty, all on it's own.
And the victim should look into Pink Pistols.
Gays actively support Muslims and side with then against the right, when it would be in their best interest to resist and scream out against muslims.
That’s odd. The Red Rider BB Gun used compressed air. At least the one I had as a kid did. Working the lever pushed a piston compressing air which pushed the BB when the trigger was pulled.
Wbill makes a valid point. I was in Phoenix last Friday-did any else hear about the mob of thousands that attacked a lone white supporter of the new Arizona legislation?
Anyone?
The cops had to protect the guy from the crowd, and were pelted with rocks, bottles and trash.
This did not even get a peep on the local news in Arizona, never mind the national level.
If this had been a mob of whites on a lone black or Hispanic, it would be a historic event. As it was, only a few freepers seem to know or care about it.
Liberals always screech about equal protection under the law, but Hate crime legislation is a one way street.
Will dig around on FR and find it.
So, it’s not what was actually done, but what people want to politicize from it?
Hate crimes are a travesty of the law. No crime is done in “love.”
A crime, done to a specific “group” of privileged people, does not make it any more heinous.
Hey, crawl out from under your log and read this from the short article above:
“Normally the charge would be a misdemeanor, Advertisement Quantcast but with the hate-crime allegation, it becomes a felony,” Buckelew said. “That's why (the allegation) is important.”
Check out this link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2499465/posts
As the person who started the thread stated, there were at least a few thousand people, all streaming to this one area to swell the attack.
You can see stuff flying through the air.
No one said it was right. What is most certainly wrong is charging someone with a felony when in any other case it would be a misdemeanor simply because of what they were supposedly thinking or rather in this case not thinking much at all.
Actually there was a recent case involving two black guys who beat an old Asian man to death after targeting his son.
Actually, don’t bother with the Fox News link at the top. It is largely sanitized, and to me, makes it look like the cops were actually arresting the guy, who probably made the “mistake” of saying he supported the bill.
So don’t even bother with that one. Check out this YouTube video, taken by someone from above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c6KB_hwzf4
I’m surprised that CAIR isn’t involved. This is definitely a case they could win. They could claim their defendants are being unfairly punished more harshly because they are Muslim and have Muslim views. This is a case where I wish they would.
Exactly. This threatens all of us because these type of things could in a confluence of events turn the victim into the aggressor and the victim could end up with a harsher sentence simply because of an expressed feeling or thought. What happens when a white man who had written something in a blog about how he thought blacks were responsible for much of crime in his area but then ends up during a mugging injuring one of them seriously? His words could be used against him no matter how truthful or unrelated to the event in which he was attacked.
That looks like the most powerful BB gun in the whole world, and could blow your head clean off...
The question is...Do you feel lucky???
Well do ya...punk!!!
FoxNews has it...FWIW...
I don’t watch any television news, to be honest, and that includes Fox. I actually don’t watch television either, but my wife and I were staying in a hotel in Phoenix, and that is the ONLY time I ever even look at television (since we don’t have cable at home, I only really check it out when staying in a hotel. Even then, it seems like a wasteland)
But even then, scanning the local news that night, there wasn’t a peep. I know if there was nothing there, it certainly wouldn’t be on any of the national evening news programs.
So, you saw this footage on Fox?
Yeah, they’ve been playing a few video bytes off and on this morning...
Amazingly they have a couple of shots of the guys throwing waterbottles and other things at the police trying to shuffle the guy out of the area...
Obviously no arrests have been made...
And they still say the TEA Parties are violent...
What goes around comes around I say...
We will have the last laugh...
Well, in this case, the Muzzies pretty much hate everybody, so every crime they commit should be tried as a hate crime...
Git your mind right, son...
The "Tea Party" atmosphere,
Led to this violence.
These poor Hispanics
Figured it's acceptable
Because we're so bad...
That looks like the most powerful BB gun in the whole world, and could blow your head clean off...
Somehow I think not.
One of the most difficult animals to kill is a possum. I use my Crossman pump for that purpose. LOL Anything that can kill them can kill you as well. It is not a firearm in the sense that no powder firing takes place for propulsion of the ammo. It still can be a lethal weapon.
True but "Only One Pump" though right? A pump "air rifle" can be pumped at least a dozen times for one round. Big difference in the actual force behind the BB. Next time you're out shopping look and see for yourself. BB guns are labeled BB Guns and air rifles are labeled air rifles. There is a difference and many people experienced in guns don't think about it.
Whoa...dude...
True but "Only One Pump" though right? A pump "air rifle" can be pumped at least a dozen times for one round. Big difference in the actual force behind the BB.
Not necessarily. The Red Ryder is a spring piston gun. The air is compressed at the moment of firing by a spring loaded piston. Your pump and CO2 guns operate on a different priciple -- gas is precompressed, held in a tank, and released at firing. Not necessarily any difference in power, though given its intended users, the Red Ryder is about as anemic as it comes.
When I started in on the airgun game, the good stuff was the high end piston guns. Now-a-days it seems most of the development is in compressed air. You can design higher power guns with compressed gas, and they aren't as hard on scopes.
Talk about thread drift.
Is a rose still a rose if you call it a petunia? It doesn’t matter how many times you pump a BB gun. It’s still a air rifle that uses compressed air to propel the BB.
I have had guns for over 50 years. My first was a BB gun.
I had BB guns as a kid. One pump and you could shoot about anything with it and not hurt it except possibly a bird. A Crossman 2100 will take out a possum in a tree. A standard BB gun will not do that. I can pump up the Crossman about a dozen times. A BB gun only once. I guarantee you if someone shoots you with one then the other same range you will in fact know and feel the huge difference between the two.
I have a Crossman 2100 I keep around for nuisance animanls. I’ve taken out about a half dozen possums up in a tree with it. I aim for their head. IIRC Daisy BB Guns are also spring loads. That is why you only cock it one time. That is what makes them BB guns and not true air rifles. Look on the labels. A pump or C02 will say air rifle. Spring loads will say BB gun.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.