Indiana

Muslim group says attack on Bloomington woman is latest in similar anti-Muslim assaults in U.S.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — The latest on the alleged attack on a Muslim woman by a 19-year-old student in Bloomington, Indiana (all times are local):

11:45 a.m.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says an apparently racially motivated attack on a Muslim woman in Indiana fits a pattern of similar attacks against Muslims nationwide.

In a phone interview Tuesday, a spokesman for the advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., said he’s disconcerted by the assault in Bloomington on Saturday.

Ibrahim Hooper says there’s been “a tremendous spike in the level of anti-Muslim sentiment in our society and increasingly violent hate rhetoric” in recent years.

Nineteen-year-old Indiana University student Triceten Bickford faces charges including intimidation, strangulation and battery in the attack, but authorities released him after he paid $705 in bond and other fees.

Hooper says the low bail suggests authorities aren’t taking the attack seriously. He says CAIR wants “prosecutors to apply the full weight of the law.”

7:40 a.m.

A 19-year-old Indiana University student says drinking alcohol and not taking anti-anxiety medication led him to attack a Muslim woman at a cafe in Bloomington.

Triceten D. Bickford tells WTHR-TV in Indianapolis that he is “so sorry to that woman.” He says he doesn’t have any memory of the incident Saturday night.

Court records show Bickford faces multiple felony charges, including intimidation, strangulation and battery.

According to a police report, a 47-year-old woman was sitting with her 9-year-old daughter when a man shouted racially charged threats before grabbing her by the neck and trying to take off her headscarf.

Bickford says he’s “not a hateful person.” The woman complained of pain but declined medical attention.

An initial court hearing is set for Friday.

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