A man has been charged with hate crime after targeting a group of Muslims in California in an alleged car-ramming attack.

Robert Avery, a sex offender, reportedly shouted racial slurs and threatened to “shoot and bomb” the Muslims, who were of South Asian descent and numbered about 30. He also allegedly drove a 2012 Honda Insight towards the people at the Heron Landing Park in Rancho Cordova, California, trying to hit them. No one was hurt physically.

The suspect surrendered himself to the authorities almost 12 hours after the incident. He faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats, and a hate crime.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Sacramento Valley and central California praised the local law enforcement for their quick action and urged the federal authorities to consider bringing hate crime charges as well.

Layli Shirani, a senior civil rights attorney at the council, said: “We thank local law enforcement authorities for their swift action in taking the suspect into custody and urge federal authorities to consider bringing hate crime charges for this apparently bias-motivated attack on members of a minority community.”

According to a recent report published by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), the prevalence of discrimination against Muslims in the US has shown no significant change. The data from the report indicates that approximately 60 percent of Muslims have reported experiencing discrimination over the past five years, including the most recent year surveyed.

In recent times, there have been notable incidents of targeted violence directed at Muslim communities in Western nations. One such incident occurred in 2017 when a mosque in Quebec City was attacked, resulting in the tragic loss of six innocent worshippers.

Similarly, in 2019, a gunman launched a brutal assault during Friday prayers in New Zealand, claiming the lives of more than 50 Muslim worshippers. These incidents highlight the alarming nature of religiously motivated attacks against Muslims in Western societies.