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(Wikimedia Commons)

A woman who was allegedly hoping to cut to the front of the line at a supermarket in north Portland on Wednesday became the focus of an angry crowd after she told one of the Latino cashiers at the store to "go back to Mexico," a witness said.

Maurice Merriweather, a 20-year-old resident of St. Johns, went to the Fred Meyer on Lombard and saw the scene unfold. He told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the woman had asked to skip to the front of the line, but when the cashier, who was Latino, told her no, she unleased a tirade of racist remarks.

"When the cashier told her no, she said 'Go back to Mexico' and then let loose some wild slurs," Merriweather said.

He captured the aftermath of the original altercation where the woman can be heard admitting to telling the cashier to "go back where she came from."

Warning: The following video contains explicit language.

Posted by Maurice Merriweather on Thursday, April 6, 2017

"No one should have to face that," Merriweather said.

Merriweather posted the video to a St. Johns neighborhood group on Facebook Wednesday evening and the video quickly gathered 288 reactions and 156 comments by Friday afternoon.

Merriweather walked away from the scene before the incident concluded, but a spokesman for Fred Meyer commended the employees at the store from preventing any further escalation.

"We strive to make sure that all customers and employees feel safe and welcome in our stores at all times and are grateful for the way these store associates diffused the situation in a timely and efficient manner," spokesman Zach Stratton said in a statement.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048