Federal prosecutors stated that a Florida man pleaded guilty Thursday to two federal hate crimes for attacking two Black women with a gun.
According to the plea agreement, Frederick Eugene Pierallini III, 27, willfully intimidated the victims using force or a threat of force.
According to a police report, on Sept. 10, 2022, Pierallini went to the Daily’s Place on Chaffee Road South to buy a cheese stick and a Slim Jim. When his card was declined, he grew angry and began calling employees “n******.” He then went outside and grabbed a shotgun from his truck, pointed it at one of the victims and cocked the weapon, yelling racial slurs the entire time.
Two days later, on Sept. 12, 2022, Pierallini began yelling racial slurs at a woman sitting in her walker on a University Boulevard sidewalk. He threatened to kill the woman and retrieved a shotgun from his truck, firing a single shot.
According to court records, when Pierallini fired the gun, the 61-year-old woman victim was “in fear for my life” and fell to the ground.
“This caused her head to hit the pavement and bruising of her knees,” an incident report states.
An officer who responded to the scene confirmed he observed her “right eye to be swollen and scars on her knees.”
“I was extremely [in] fear for my life,” she said in a witness affidavit.
The shooting incident sparked a manhunt for Pierallini that stretched over three days and caused a feeling of distress throughout the Lakewood neighborhood, according to First Coast News.
“The defendant in this case committed a vile assault on two women with a dangerous weapon because of their race,” said U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “These actions were repugnant and endangered the women’s and the public’s safety. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to counter crimes like these with the full force of the law.”
A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.
For each count, officials stated that Pierallini faces up to 10 years in prison.
The FBI Jacksonville Field Office and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Washington for the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorney Anna Gotfryd of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case.