by Stop Racist Attacks
Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2001 at 6:42 AM
A 3rd. "backlash" murder has taken place. An Egyptian Grocer in San Gabriel is the latest victim to fall to hate.
KCBS (Channel 2)
Tuesday September 18 2001
Grocer's Murder Investigated As Hate Crime
The fatal shooting Saturday of a neighborhood grocer of Egyptian descent in San Gabriel will be investigated by the FBI as a possible hate crime, an agent said Monday.
"We are going to be opening that case as a hate crime," Matt McLaughlin, of the FBI's Los Angeles office, told news wires. "If they haven't already started the investigation, it will be soon."
Adel Karas, 48, of Arcadia, was fatally shot about 3:15 p.m. Saturday at International Market, 1381 E. Las Tunas Drive. Although Karas' family told reporters they feared he was killed because his attackers thought he might be Muslim -- he was a Coptic Christian from Egypt.
McLaughlin said he was not familiar with the evidence that prompted the FBI to get involved, but speculated that the bureau wanted to "err on the side of caution." FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters in Washington that since World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, there have been dozens of retaliatory hate crimes directed at members of the Arab-American community nationwide.
Sheriff's deputies are seeking three suspects, two of whom entered the store, confronted the owner and shot him in the upper body, Bottomley said. The suspects fled in a copper-colored Honda driven by a third suspect.