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Civil rights advocates are calling for an investigation for hate crime over the alleged killing of a black teen by a white man who has just been released from prison.
Michael Adams, 27, stabbed the 17-year-old at the neck of a Circle K convenience store in Peoria, Arizona in the early hours of Thursday morning, the Peoria Police Department said. The boy died from his injuries at the hospital shortly after.
Adams told investigators that he had attacked the boy because he had heard him listen to rap music in his car, according to the Arizona Republic. Adams reportedly stated that rap music endangered him because he had already been attacked by people who had listened to him.
NBC News has not been able to verify this report independently.
The victim's family, speaking to KPNX, a subsidiary of NBC Phoenix, identified the teenager as Elijah Al-Amin.
Adams was charged with premeditated first degree murder and appeared in Maricopa County Court on the same day as the one who was stabbed.
The alleged assault occurred just two days after Adams' release, where he had served his sentence for aggravated assault and theft.
In a video obtained by KPNX, Adams' lawyer, Jacie Cotterell, testified in court that the attack was "a failure on the part of the Department of Corrections", and stated that Despite the symptoms of mental illness, "many previous crimes and a history of potential threats to dangerous behavior," Adams was released into the community without drugs or support.
But civil rights advocates believe that the killing of Al-Amin should be treated as a hate crime.
"Michael Adams approached Elijah Al-Amin, a black teenager, while he was standing near the soda machine and slit his throat, feeling threatened by the music that was going on. he was listening in his car, "said Kristen Clark, Executive Director of the Committee of Lawyers for Civil Rights under the law wrote on Twitter.
"We must call that what it is – a hate crime – and demand a thorough investigation at the highest level," wrote the campaign for human rights.
The Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, has also called for the crime to be investigated by the Department of Justice.
In an interview with KPNX, the victim's father, Rahim Al-Amin, said, "To follow him to a store and stab him, I do not care about your mental problems, you know the truth is wrong."
"If you say his music is too loud, are you going to kill him?" Said Rahim Al-Amin. "I mean, for example, if he had asked Elijah to refuse him, he would probably have refused it – it's just who Elijah was." Oh my God. "It's probably what he would have said," he added.
The Arizona Department of Corrections told KPNX that Adams had not been classified as a "serious mental patient" and had received contact information for community resources after his release from prison 2nd of July.
"Upon his release, he received a transport from the ASPC-Yuma to Maricopa County, after which he was no longer under the jurisdiction of the department and the department had no longer been in charge. legal authority over him, "said Corrections Department spokesman Bill Lamoreaux in a KPNX statement.
"The tragic death is terrible and Mr. Adams will have to answer for his alleged actions," said the spokesman.
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