Halifax police are looking for a man who allegedly attacked a customer inside Costco while shouting “racially offensive language” over the weekend. Police say they responded to a reported assault at the Costco on Chain Lake Drive in Halifax around 1 p.m. Saturday. They learned a man yelled at a family and then assaulted another customer while continuing to shout. “It was reported that a man was shouting racially offensive language and slurs at a family inside the store,” said Const. Martin Cromwell with Halifax Regional Police. “We believe this incident to be motivated by hate.” The hate crime unit with the Halifax Regional Police is involved in the investigation. Police are trying to identify the suspect, who is described as a white man between 30 and 40 years old. He is bald and was wearing a black T-shirt, jeans and black boots during the incident. Anyone with information on the suspect’s identity is asked to call police at 902-490-5020, or anonymously contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca. Video of the incident is circulating on social media. In the video, a man appears to follow two women wearing hijabs, and aggressively shouts at them to leave the country. A bystander confronts him and says: “...shut your f---ing mouth.” The man then swings in the direction of a Muslim man who was filming the encounter, and apparent death threats follow. “We’re killing every f---ing one of you here ... every f---ing one of you,” he appears to say. Costco says man will be banned from store Costco had not provided a formal statement or interview as of Tuesday afternoon, but a representative told CTV News Atlantic the store is working with police to identify the suspect. The representative said the man will be banned from all Costco stores once he is identified. ‘We don’t have to accept this’ The footage has been sent to the National Council of Canadian Muslims, which says it’s another example of Islamophobia and “anti-Muslim hatred.” “We don’t have to harangue over the terminology,” said Steven Zhou, the media and communications lead at the National Council of Canadian Muslims. “I think Canadians know ... when they see this kind of thing happen, they know exactly what they’re seeing, telling people to go back to their country, death threats. Again, we don’t have to accept this.” ‘Another misinformed person about Islam’ Mahmoud Omar, an imam with the Ummah Masjid & Community Centre in Halifax, says the video of the incident is “disturbing.” “It’s another misinformed person about Islam. Islamophobia, unfortunately, it is on the rise. There’s a lack of education and misinformation online,” he said. “It is better to talk about what’s going on rather than brushing it under the carpet.” Omar is calling on politicians to condemn what happened and support the fight against Islamophobia. “Education and, you know, raising awareness and speaking about it ... and speaking against it out loud when we see it,” said Omar. “This is, becomes a responsibility for, and upon, all of us as Canadians.” Omar also says the local mosque would like to welcome the woman who confronted the man in the store. “She became the Nova Scotian hero,” he said. “On behalf of the Muslim community, thank you very much.” With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Callum Smith For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
