A Florida man who officials say threatened two Black women with a gun due to their race has been sentenced to time behind bars.
Prosecutors accused Frederick Pierallini III of targeting two Black women only days apart in 2022. Officials say that he went to buy snacks at a convenience store where his first victim worked on Sept. 10.
According to the DOJ, when Pierallini got to the register, his card declined, so he left the Jacksonville-based establishment without paying for it.
Pierallini returned to the store, verbally abused the worker with racial slurs and scolded her for not doing her job right. He later came back with his shotgun.
It is alleged that he “pointed it at [the victim] and cocked it by pulling the slide back to open the chamber and loaded a bullet into it,” officials said in a statement. She ran away from the scene.
In another incident two days later, Pierallini attacked another woman who was sitting on her walker on a sidewalk. In addition to also using racial slurs against the victim, he told her that he would kill her. Similarly to the store worker, he left the area and got his firearm.
Per the DOJ, this time, Pierallini fired a single shot, leading the woman to fall to the ground. The bullet didn’t hit the woman, but she did suffer from injuries.
On Wednesday, April 24, Pierallini pleaded guilty to two federal hate crimes. Officials said he was given five years with an additional three years of supervised release.
“The violent assaults committed against these two women because of their race are intolerable,” U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida said in a statement. “There is no place in our society for such heinous acts. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to aggressively investigate and prosecute individuals who target individuals and communities because of their race, ethnicity or beliefs.”
FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division Assistant Director Michael D. Nordwall added, “Hate crimes like these are not only attacks on the victims but are meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community. The FBI and our partners will continue to prioritize investigating civil rights violations and work together tirelessly to bring perpetrators to justice.”
Local station WESH reports that hate crime in Florida has surged in recent years. The state attorney general office reported 229 hate crimes in 2022 — 85 of them being race-related.
