Three cousins from Hayward have been charged in San Francisco with a hate crime and assault for allegedly firing a BB rifle at the face of a man they believed was gay, an attack the men videotaped, authorities said Wednesday.
Mohammad Habibzada, Shafiq Hashemi and Sayed Bassam, all 24, are scheduled to be arraigned today in San Francisco Superior Court. They are free on $50,000 bond apiece.
The victim of Friday’s attack was walking on the 3200 block of 16th Street near Guerrero Street about 10 p.m. when a car pulled up and someone inside opened fire with a BB rifle, police said.
The man was hit in the face but refused medical treatment, said Lt. Lyn Tomioka, spokeswoman for the Police Department. He reported the shooting to police, who pulled over a car that matched the assailants’ vehicle a short distance away and arrested the three Hayward men.
Investigators believe the assailants chose the victim because he appeared to be gay. When the men were pulled over, police found a video camera that was used to film the shooting, investigators said.
Assistant District Attorney Victor Hwang, the prosecutor in the case, said the men are cooperating in the investigation.
Authorities are looking into whether the attack was isolated or whether there have been similar BB gun shootings elsewhere in the Bay Area. Police have been unable to find victims to support any additional allegations, but Hwang said, “We believe we have the evidence to show that there was targeting of individuals who they believed to be gay.”
He added, “We know about this one case. We want to know about if there are any other cases.”