Attempted murder and hate crime allegations were filed on Tuesday against a 19-year-old Desert Hot Springs man who police say went to an auto parts store to kill a black employee.
Rudy Arana brought a sawed-off shotgun to the Autozone on Palm Drive on Tuesday morning, reports KMIR. Police say when he arrived he announced he was “there to kill a n—-r.”
Employees of the store told authorities that Arana showed up at about 7:15 am and asked about their co-worker. They told him he was not working that day and asked if they could pass along a message. That’s when Arana used the racial epithet, according to KESQ.
Arana then hung around near the store and saw the employee he was looking for earlier when the employee took out the trash. Arana then pulled the gun from his waistband, but shot himself in the lower torso when employees tried to take the gun away from him.
Arana was hospitalized with undisclosed injuries. No one else was hurt.
The victim told police that Arana had been threatening him for two weeks.
