MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A viral video shows a man making threats to kill a Muslim family in the Lakewood Ranch community.
This happened Mother’s Day weekend.
The family who was threatened has asked not to be identified due to safety concerns, and News Channel 8 is not identifying the man accused of making the threats because he has not been charged.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s office said they find probable cause to charge him with harassment.
According to a summary from the sheriff’s office, detectives reviewed the video showing a man wearing orange shorts and a white shirt. He is heard screaming “go back to your country,” “get the (expletive) out of my country,” and “I’ll (expletive) kill you.”
In one of the videos you hear the family calling police. The man gets up and walks away, but the man on the phone with police tells him to stay.
When a deputy arrives, he is heard on camera telling the family, with small children, ‘don’t let that ruin you guy’s evening’, and tells them to waive it off. One family member responded saying ‘we can’t ignore somebody saying that they want to kill us and shoot us in a public place’. The deputy tells, he will file a report.