Joey George, 37, is charged with two counts of making interstate threats, including calls to a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, not far from the Tops location where 10 people were killed in a racist attack in May.
According to a complaint filed in federal court in Washington on Thursday, George called a Buffalo Tops supermarket on Tuesday and asked a worker who answered the phone how many black people were in the store. He told the worker there was a chance he was already in the store or nearby and that if he didn’t see anyone in the store, he would drive to the Tops supermarket where the fatal shooting occurred in May, the complaint states. This location had just reopened a few days prior to the alleged call.
George, who identified himself as a man named “Peter” in the call, said he was a “really good shooter and could take people out of the parking lot” and said he had assault rifles and other weapons, according to the complaint.
CNN has reached out to the federal public defender’s office for comment on George’s case.
Prosecutors said George then called the store again Wednesday, “he ranted about a ‘race war’ and said, ‘This is happening in a blue state.’
George, of Lynnwood, Wash., is also accused in the complaint of calling a restaurant in San Bruno, Calif., on May 12 and threatening to shoot “any black or Hispanic person if the restaurant didn’t close within twenty minutes.” George allegedly told a San Bruno police officer who called his cell phone that he wanted to “attack black people and instill fear in the black community in the Bay Area,” the complaint states.
Prosecutors linked the calls to George based on cell phone records of the number that made the calls, the complaint states. Prosecutors say George has a history of making racial threats using the same number, including to businesses in Maryland, Connecticut and Washington.
“The Buffalo community is trying to heal from the horrific shooting at a Tops grocery store. I can’t imagine the kind of fear such hate-fueled threats instill in those who are just trying to go about their daily lives,” said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Nick Brown. “We cannot tolerate this kind of hatred in our community and we will not stand by while people seek to terrorize others in our country.
George is being held at a federal detention center in SeaTac, Washington, and is expected to appear in court on Friday at 5:00 PM Eastern for an initial appearance.
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