Portland Man Charged With Hate Crimes, Robbery After Attacking Afghan Store Owner

January 27, 2021

A man in Portland, Oregon is facing bias crime charges after attacking an Afghan American store owner last Friday.

The incident, which was caught on camera, occurred inside the 68-year-old victim’s convenience store at a Chevron gas station in Southeast Portland.

Brian Christopher Miller, 43, can be seen trashing the store while yelling anti-Muslim slurs in the video. He also threatened to shoot the owner.

“I’ll f***ing shoot you in the back,” Miller said, according to NBC News. “Is that how we do things in America, Afghan? Al Qaeda? Osama?”

Miller reportedly came to the store to buy cigarettes. For no apparent reason, he started berating the owner’s ethnicity and knocking over objects in his direction.

The frantic store owner managed to call 911 during Miller’s rampage. Police arrested Miller at the scene for first-degree criminal mischief, as well as third-degree robbery for allegedly stealing some items.

Miller was released a few hours later on his own recognizance, much to the dismay of the victim’s son.

“I believe this was an example of white privilege,” he told KOIN 6. “The guy was released less than 24 hours after it happened with just a slap on the wrist. If the roles were reversed, I think the outcome would have been very different.”

The store owner reportedly left Afghanistan in 1981 when the country was at war with the Soviet Union.

The victim’s son also told FOX 12 that his father offered the video to Portland police, but the responding officer refused to take it. Afghan

Miller appeared in court by phone on Monday. Documents show that he entered the store after getting involved in a disturbance in the parking lot.

Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt announced later on Monday that bias crime charges will be pressed against him.

Miller is now facing three counts of first-degree bias crime, three counts of second-degree bias crime and one count each of first-degree burglary, second-degree burglary, second-degree disorderly conduct, second-degree criminal mischief, second-degree criminal trespass, menacing, third-degree robbery and third-degree theft, according to KGW.

Feature Image Screenshots via s h (Left), Multnomah County Jail (Right)

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