Muslim mother and daughter targets of death threats, racial slurs in Hamilton attack: police

TORONTO -

Hamilton Police Service (HPS) have arrested a 40-year-old man from Hamilton in connection with an incident in which a Muslim mother and daughter received death threats and were the targets of racial slurs in a parking lot.

According to police, a mother and daughter were walking through an Ancaster Meadowlands parking lot on Monday when a vehicle almost struck them.

An interaction followed which escalated into the suspect uttering death threats towards the victims while “using racial slurs targeting the Muslim community,” HPS said.

The victims then ran across the street and hid behind some bushes, while the suspect allegedly​ searched for them.

The suspect eventually located the pair and threatened to kill them, before one of the victims ran screaming for help and witnesses intervened, HPS said.

The incident is being investigated as a hate crime, police said.

The suspect is facing three counts of uttering threats to cause death, two counts of assault with a weapon, one count of dangerous operation and one count of failure to comply. 

He is expected in court on July 13.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims issued a news release on the incident Tuesday evening.

"We at the National Council of Canadian Muslims were deeply saddened to hear of yet another terrifying, seemingly- Islamophobia motivated attack on two Muslim women wearing hijab in Hamilton," it reads.

"Enough is enough. The government must commit to taking stronger action. Our family could have been seriously hurt -and we cannot allow these things to keep happening."

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwarth also spoke out on the incident via Twitter.

"My heart is with the women who endured this hateful attack, their family & Muslim communities across Hamilton and Ontario. Everyone deserves to walk down the street in peace, without fear," she said.