A Muslim man in Indiana walked into a Goodwill there and tried to get a woman, an employee, to convert to Islam. When the woman expressed that she had no wishes to convert to Islam, the Muslim went into a rage. Another woman stepped in, but the Muslim grabbed her by the throat and began beating her. He also charged at an officer in a rage, but was soon tasered. As we read from one report:
One man is facing charges after he struck an officer for attempting to restrain him following a commotion in Muncie.
It happened just before 2 p.m. Saturday inside a Goodwill store when officers were responding to a call for a fight.
Upon arrival, officials found 24-year-old Khalid Bilal confronting store employees.
According to reports, Bilal then went on to break an officer’s hand after an attempt to place Bilal into custody.
Bilal was later tased after charging another officer that arrived on scene. After the tasing, the officer was eventually able to corral Bilal into handcuffs. The suspect then began to kick the officer repeatedly with both legs, causing authorities to shackle his legs.
Reports stated that Bilal was yelling “Allah Akbar” throughout the ordeal.
One customer told 24-Hour News 8 she was scared for her life. She was inside the store shopping with her three children when she heard a man screaming at the front.
“A guy had become very irate and was screaming at one of the employees and then grabbed him by the collar and start pushing him and screaming are you scared,” said Chasity Fraley, customer.
“He was just so full of rage and violence I never seen anything like that before,” Fraley added.
Not sure what was going on, Fraley said she began moving her kids.
“We moved to a different aisle… so I could take my kids away from the situation because they got very scared at that point and then I heard him say ‘I’m going to kill everyone in here,”’ she said.
That’s when Fraley says a female employee stepped in trying to calm the man down.
“With her, she kinda used a softer tone with him at first, ‘let’s talk about this, what’s the matter can we take it outside,’” Fraley recalled.
But out of nowhere, she said the man attacked that employee.
“He violently grabbed her around the neck and just was punching and whatever he could to her,” she said. “A bunch of employees came out to keep him away from customers.”
It is believed that Bilal had beaten a female worker at the store and grabbed her by the throat prior to officers’ arrival. Bilal reportedly had become upset while attempting to convert the employee to Islam.
Fraley believes employees handled the situation very well.
“They were protecting one another and protecting us they (did) an excellent job at keeping him in a somewhat secured area,” she said. “They were telling people to get back trying to protect people in the store and one another.”
Police said the man was taken to the hospital and continued to attack officers when they tried to restrain him.
Once at the hospital for treatment, Bilal went on to strike an officer three times when the officer attempted to secure a restraint that held Bilal to a hospital bed.
He faces preliminary charges of battery on police, resisting law enforcement, disorderly conduct, battery with injury, intimidation and strangulation.
Goodwill released a statement saying “Because of the actions of Goodwill store management and the Muncie police no one was injured. It is now a police matter and Goodwill is cooperating. Safety of our customers and our employees is a top priority of Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana.”
24 Hour News 8 contacted the Muncie Police Department for a comment but did not hear back.
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