“Man allegedly sets counter at store on fire: Green Bay Fire Department officials said a man allegedly walked into a store at 1020 N. Irwin Ave. Tuesday, March 6, 2013, and set something on fire on the counter. He was arrested.” (source: Green Bay Press Gazette)

On March 5, a man walked into a small retail store owned by a Sikh man in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and then set fire to the cash register using gasoline. According to the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the county district attorney is now charging the perpetrator with a hate crime based on his comments that were recorded in the police report:

[James] Parrish stated that he was going to “burn [the] place down.” He also stated he set the register on fire “to get them the hell out of Wisconsin.” Prior to this incident, Parrish had called himself a “freedom fighter” and made comments about his desire to “round up terrorists.”

Note that this attack occurred exactly seven months after a white supremacist murdered six worshipers at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek (which is two hours south of Green Bay) last August.