The FBI is getting involved in the investigation of the white supremacist attack on a Black DJ that took place in Washington State this past weekend.
According to the Associated Press, seven men and a woman affiliated with the Aryan Brotherhood have been arrested for assault and hate crimes after entering the Rec Room Bar and Grill in Lynwood and attacking the DJ on duty. The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office said that the group beat and stomped on the DJ while yelling racial slurs.
An Asian man, who tried to defend the DJ, was also injured.
“The violent behavior directed at members of our community over the weekend simply because of their race is disgusting,” Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary said in a news release. “The Sheriff’s Office is partnering with the FBI in hopes of getting the strongest sentencing possible for these hate crimes.”
Police say the group had traveled to Washington to celebrate the death of an infamous white supremacist leader, Robert Jay Mathews.
According to the Washington Post, Mathews “led audacious bank robberies and masterminded the assassination of a Jewish radio host before dying in a shootout with the FBI in the mid-’80s.”
The group members traveled from Washington, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Illinois and Oregon for the anniversary.
The DJ, who asked not to be named in an interview with the Seattle Times for fear of retaliation, said he was assaulted because he had not immediately played the heavy metal music requested by the group when they walked into the bar.
He now says he is sure it was a hate crime: “I wasn’t going to say it at first. I’m gonna say it now. I was the only black person there.”