A Tennessee man pleaded guilty on Friday to a federal hate crime for attacking a Muslim family.
Christopher Beckham, 35, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act roughly three years after he was indicted on charges for an incident that happened a year prior.
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Beckham admitted to accosting two teenage girls wearing hijabs on Oct. 24, 2017. He yelled “Allahu Akbar!” and “Go back to your home country!” at them before pulling a knife on the girls’ father when he arrived at the bus stop to take his children home.
Beckham swung the knife and threw punches at the girls’ father, according to the Department of Justice. He then chased after the mother after she arrived on the scene with a young child in the car and called the family “terrorists,” threatening to kill them when he is released.
“The defendant confronted two young girls who were walking home from school and violently attacked their father because of how they worship,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said, according to a statement from the Department of Justice. “An attack upon the free exercise of any person’s religious beliefs is an attack on that person’s civil rights. The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously prosecute such violent acts motivated by hate.”
Beckham admitted the family’s nationality and perceived religion were the impetus for the attack.
He will be sentenced on Oct. 7, 2021, more than two years after his trial ended in a hung jury in Sept. 2019.
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“Hate crimes are the highest priority of the FBI’s Civil Rights program due to the devastating impact they have on families and communities,” Special Agent in Charge Douglas M. Korneski of the FBI Memphis Field Office said. “The FBI is committed to protecting the civil rights of all people, and we will aggressively pursue those who commit criminal offenses based on bias.”
