Man arrested in suspected Hate Crime attack of Indian Grocery Store

SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) – A man has reportedly been arrested for his alleged torching of an Indian grocery store in east Charlotte Thursday night in what Charlotte-Mecklenbug police are calling a hate crime. Seeing the severity of the crime, this might make things difficult for the accused even if he seeks legal counsel. If granted bail during the arraignment, the accused may have to reach out to a Santa Ana Bail Bonds agency or other similar agencies for posting bail, since, in all likelihood, the bail amount would be set staggeringly high. Additionally, the granting of bail itself becomes difficult as there are many factors for the court to decide against it. In any case, such acts of hate crime are to be condemned and prevented by law enforcement for the safety of the public.

WBTV reported that Curtis Dwight Flournoy, 32, is accused of starting the fire to the Central Market.

Police say the Central Market, described as a Nepali Indian grocery store, caught fire just before 10 p.m. Thursday. A rock had been thrown through a window of the store’s front door, which had been burned by fire, when officers and firefighters arrived at the store.

“A note was also left at the scene near the door that stated the suspect did not want any refugee business owners and that they would torture the owner if they did not leave and go back to where they came from,” authorities told local affiliate WNCN. “The suspect signed the letter ‘White America.'”

“We need more safety and more security as business owners,” Kamal Dhimel, owner of Central Market, told the Charlotte Observer.

Dhimel, a Bhutan refugee, fled Nepal in the early 1990s. He moved to the U.S. in 2010 and opened his business in 2014. He said he has never personally encountered anti-immigrant sentiment since he arrived in the states, though he said the letter is a sign that people don’t understand the importance of immigrants and refugees in the community.

“If they want to know about refugees and immigrants and our backgrounds, they need to come to us and listen to us,” he said. “We can explain to them how we help this country, how we give back to this country.”

There were no injuries sustained from the fire, officials said.

Central Market is a Nepali Indian store that sells fast food, groceries and gifts, mostly from the Indian subcontinent. People from India make up Charlotte’s second largest concentration of immigrants with 12,300 people. The number jumps to over 14,000 when including immigrants form neighboring nations.

The arson case comes at a pivotal time when the nation’s population of people from the Indian subcontinent are on alert, after a several high profile killings, including one in Lancaster County last month. The victim in that attack, Harnish Patel, 43, was the owner of a convenience store in Lancaster County. He was found dead of gunshot wounds in the yard of his home on March 2.

“We condemn this disturbing attack and urge state and national political leaders to view it in the context of the unprecedented spike in hate incidents nationwide targeting immigrants, South Asians, Muslims, and members of other minority groups,” said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in the statement.

The suspect faces charges of burning a building of trade, malicious damage by use of an incendiary material, felony breaking and entering, ethnic intimidation and anonymous or threatening letters.