by Jerry Burke
According to Fifth Squad detectives, the graffiti incident occurred sometime Saturday night before 10:30 p.m. Two American-born brothers of Pakistani descent, aged 20 and 23, came home to find the windshield of their BMW, their garage door and fence covered in inflammatory anti-Muslim insults, including "Die Dirty Muslims."
After calling the police, the brothers told detectives about an incident that occurred late last month involving a neighbor. According to police, the brothers were meeting up with friends at the Pathmark supermarket parking lot on Franklin Avenue around midnight on Thursday, June 20. At that time, the suspect, who police have identified as 25-year-old John K. Wang of Cypress Dr., Franklin Square, allegedly drove up to the brothers armed with a rifle.
Police say Wang uttered racial and religious slurs at the brothers, even going so far as to exit the vehicle and point the rifle directly at one of them. The brothers managed to flee the situation, but did not call police until after their home was vandalized last weekend.
According to police, the tragedy of the situation was magnified because Yang, who is of Korean descent, not only attended school with one of the brothers, but at one time the two considered each other friends.
After an investigation of both incidents, police arrested Wang on Sunday on charges of second degree criminal mischief, second degree menacing and fourth degree criminal possession of a dangerous weapon. The weapons charge came from the discover of an illegal sawed-off shotgun found in Wang's home. Police also recovered four other weapons and a large amount of ammunition.
Police also said that Wang, according to the victimized family, had been making menacing phone calls in the late hours of the evening.
Wang was arraigned on Monday in First District Court in Hempstead. He and his family could not be reached for comment.
