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An Indiana man charged in the road rage shooting death of a
Muslim man allegedly yelled "go back to your country" and made
ethnic and religious insults against the victim before the
shooting, according to court documents.

Dustin Passarelli, 33, of Plainfield, remains jailed without
bond following his Friday initial hearing on a murder charge in
the killing of Zahra Ayoubi, CBS affiliate WTTV reported.

A preliminary autopsy showed Ayoubi, 32, was shot once from the
front in his shoulder and seven times in the back Saturday
outside an apartment complex where Passarelli had followed him
after the two crossed paths on Interstate 465 in Indianapolis.

Passarelli told investigators he was driving when another car
aggressively "flew up" from behind and he followed it to the
apartment complex's parking lot, where there was a verbal
altercation between the two men, a probable cause affidavit
states.

Passarelli, who is not Jewish, told officers Ayoubi made an anti-
Semitic remark to him and punched a window in his car twice,
cracking the glass. He said he was in fear and pulled a handgun
from his seat and shot through the car window.

But a friend of Ayoubi's told investigators he heard Passarelli
yell "go back to your ... country" at Ayoubi using an expletive,
and also make ethnic and religious insults before the shooting.

A message was left Friday seeking comment from Passarelli's
court-appointed attorney.

Ayoubi's sister, Zahra Ayoubi, said her brother's death should
be investigated as a hate crime. She also called on Indiana, one
of five states without a hate crime law, to pass its own hate
crime law.

"It was a hate crime," she said prior to Passarelli's Friday
court hearing.

Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry noted Indiana's lack of a
hate crime law Friday in a statement where he said his office
"will vigorously prosecute to seek justice for Mr. Ayoubi, for
his family and loved ones, and for all members of the Hoosier
Muslim community who have been impacted by this tragedy."

"While the disturbing allegations underlying the charge in this
case remain to be proven at trial, we are obviously unable to
charge this alleged act as a hate crime," Curry said.

Grant Mendenhall, special agent in charge of the FBI in
Indianapolis, told The Indianapolis Star the FBI is monitoring
the investigation into Ayoubi's death.

The Indiana Senate passed a hate crimes bill Thursday, two days
after it was amended to remove a list of specifically protected characteristics, including sexual orientation, gender identity
and race. That bill now heads to the Indiana House.

After the bill was stripped of those protected characteristics
and approved Tuesday, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, civil rights
activists and business interests criticized lawmakers' move.

Holcomb, who supported the original legislation among his
legislative priorities for the 2019 session, said the amended
bill "does not get Indiana off the list of states without a bias
crime law."

Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina and Wyoming are the other
states without hate crime laws.

There is no such thing as a hate crime.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dustin-passarelli-indiana-man- charged-road-rage-shooting-death-muslim-man-zahra-ayoubi-2019-02-
22/

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