On Monday, a white man admitted to a judge that he shot at one of his Black neighbor’s homes, slashed their tires, and sprayed racist graffiti on a pickup truck, all because they had a Black Lives Matter sign in their window.
During his sentence in Macomb County Circuit Court, Michael Frederick Jr. stated that his acts were not a personal attack on Eddie and Candace Hall.
“I targeted these guys because I didn’t like their political sign in the window,” he explained. “I think you guys are some great people and didn’t deserve this at all.”
According to The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens, Frederick, 25, was sentenced to four to ten years in jail.
Back in September, shots were fired at the Halls’ home in Warren, Michigan. A swastika was painted on one of their vehicles two days later, their tires were slashed, and a large stone was hurled through their front window. On their pickup, someone had also scribbled “terrorist Black Lives Matter,” “not welcome,” and a statement with a slur.
The very next day, a bullet came flying through the Halls front window.
According to the newspaper, Frederick was apprehended rather quickly. In July, he pleaded not guilty to ethnic intimidation, discharging a firearm at a building, using a firearm during a felony, and malicious destruction of property.
The attacks occurred when many Black citizens were feeling anxious and angry as a result of police brutality.
“I’m not angry; I’m not. I’m forgiving,” Candace Hall, 55, said at Frederick’s sentencing. “You’re a good kid and have a chance. You made a bad choice, and we understand that. We have children ourselves. We’re not hateful people; we’re Christians.”
She added, “With so much of the bad that happened, so much good came out of this because even though it was an evil, hateful act, it actually brought us — the neighborhood — together with love and comfort and compassion, even including his parents.”
Judge Diane Druzinski expressed her admiration for the Halls’ “strength, wisdom, and forgiveness.”
Druzinski stated, “I wish I was as good as people as you.”
Frederick also pled no guilty to malicious destruction of property after vandalizing a white homeowner’s home with a sign supporting then-presidential candidate Joe Biden.
