A woman accused of punching a 6-year-old boy and spewing anti-Asian remarks at his family in Las Vegas has been arrested and charged with a hate crime, NextShark has learned.
What you need to know: The child’s mother, who asked to be identified only by her TikTok handle @uhmmajo, filmed the suspect as she berated her family inside The Shops at Crystals, a luxury mall located in the CityCenter complex. Her video and surveillance footage have both been helpful in identifying and arresting the suspect, she said.
- The incident reportedly occurred at around 11:05 a.m. on July 5. The suspect, identified as Shelly Hill, allegedly came up to the Korean American family from behind and punched the 6-year-old boy in the neck.
- The alleged physical assault took place right after the family had exited the mall’s doors and headed onto a walkway. @uhmmajo told NextShark that her husband immediately put their son behind him, faced Hill and told her, “I’m going to kill you, you racist b*tch!”
- Hill walked away quickly but still yelled at her family, @uhmmajo said. The mother-of-two then passed off her 2.5-year-old daughter to her husband and proceeded to chase Hill, yelling, “B*tch come back, you can’t hit my son!”
- The chase ended with @uhmmajo catching up to Hill. This is when she started recording. “By the time I caught up to her, I could see security approaching because I made quite the commotion. All that trash littered on the ground happened when I confronted her and she dropped her things,” the mother-of-two said.
- @uhmmajo recalled Hill yelling “something about ‘it’s your fault, I know what you did’ and ‘China’” when she hit her son. In the video, Hill can be heard saying “China” again, but it’s unclear what exactly she was saying.
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Why the mother had to film: The video was taken after the alleged physical assault. @uhmmajo felt the need to film the encounter as documentary evidence.
- “You can see security approaching in the video, but there was also security coming up from behind me. In that instance, I knew it was better to get a video of her face as evidence versus opting for violence, since security was already in the picture,” @uhmmajo told NextShark.
- The mother-of-two said the victim-blaming comments she receives are just as traumatic as the actual experience. “People said things like ‘What a bad mother, filming this instead of beating her up,’ etc. Honestly, those types of comments are not constructive and need to stop. The video is literally the reason she was identified and is being charged,” she said.
- Hill has been charged with battery and a hate crime. She is being held on a $3,000 bail and was scheduled to appear in court on Sunday.
How the child is doing: @uhmmajo told NextShark that her son is “shaken up but is doing okay.” After the incident, the boy even said he was “so glad it was him and not his little sister.”
- The 6-year-old did not sustain any bruises. @uhmmajo said a sales representative from one of the stores had brought them ice-cold water, which they put on her son’s neck as they waited for police to arrive. She also acknowledged other representatives who offered help, including one who brought her children coloring books to keep them occupied. “I am forever grateful to those sales reps,” she added.
- @uhmmajo said moving forward will be a process for the family. After the incident, she and her husband talked to their son, who also got scared of their response during the encounter.
- “He said he had never seen us that angry before and hopes we never get that angry with him. It startled him so much to see us that way — I can’t imagine how traumatized he would be if we actually got physically violent,” @uhmmajo said.
Featured Image via @uhmmajo
