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Shairo Gil, 24, pulled out a knife and lunged across the counter at Barrales Grocery on Hadley Avenue without prompting on March 26, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said Friday.
Gil, who attacked the clerk “solely because he believed she was of Mexican descent...made contact with the upper part of her chest, below the left shoulder, but she was not wounded,” the attorney general said.
Clifton police quickly identified and arrested Gil, who's remained held in the Passaic County Jail in Paterson pending further court action.
Deputy Attorney General Danielle Scarduzio of Grewal's Bias Crimes Unit then secured an indictment charging Gil with attempted murder, bias intimidation, aggravated assault and weapons offenses.
Grewal praised unit Detective Brian Christensen and Clifton Detectives Scott Gibson and Diorys Turbides for their work on the case.
“We are pushing back against the rise in intolerance and hatred we have seen across New Jersey and the nation,” the U.S. attorney said Friday. “An important part of our efforts is fully investigating and prosecuting bias crimes.
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