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A South Carolina man is facing hate crime charges after video showed him firing a gun at a Black jogger, whom he called "boy."
According to Atlanta Black Star, Jonathan Felkel was charged with hate intimidation, assault, and battery of a high and aggravated nature, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime in connection with his July 17 attack on a Black jogger in Richland County.
Surveillance video shows Felkel parked near a gated community at roughly 6 a.m. Felkel grabbed a rifle from the passenger seat and fired a shot at a Black man jogging past him. He then drove into the community, shouting, “Keep running, boy.” The victim was not injured.
Felkel admitted to investigators that he intended to shoot at the jogger.
“I was going to shoot at him. I was. I was going to shoot at him," Felkel reportedly said.
According to authorities, Felkel and the victim live in the same neighborhood but do not know each other.
Felkel is the first person charged under Richland County’s new hate crime ordinance, which passed last month. South Carolina does not have a statewide hate crime law, leaving it to local governments to implement their own statutes.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department said Felkel’s actions were racially motivated and intended to intimidate the victim. The assault charge carries a $1 million bond, while the hate crime charge, a misdemeanor under county law, carries a $1,075 bond, the legal maximum.
The incident has sparked calls for a statewide hate crime law.
“That man just felt like he could do that, and there was nothing stopping him,” one local resident said.
“It makes me feel uneasy being in this neighborhood,” another added. “It’s very unfortunate … especially having young ones growing up around here.”
Felkel's next court date is set for September.
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