by Debra Heine 6 Dec 2014 924post a comment

A 26-year-old white Bosnian woman was dragged out of her car early this morning and beaten by three black assailants in the same South St. Louis neighborhood that saw a Bosnian man bludgeoned to death with hammers earlier this week.

Police are investigating the attack as a possible hate crime because the victim says the suspects asked her if she was Bosnian during the attack.

Via St. Louis CBS Local:

According to a police report, at about 5:30 a.m., a Bosnian woman was driving on the 4600 block of Lansdowne when three black males in their late-teens to early-20s stepped in front of her vehicle.

When the woman tried to drive around them, the suspects reportedly pulled out a firearm, so she stopped the car.

After hitting her windshield with a crowbar, the suspects pulled the woman from her car, threw her on the ground and kicked her.

A suspect grabbed her purse, searched it, and told the others it was empty. All three suspects then fled the scene.

Police say the woman said she thought the crime was racially motivated because the suspects asked her if she was Bosnian.

“This has all the appearances of a hate crime based on the information that we have,” St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay responds. “The fact that they did suggest that she was a Bosnian – she was a Bosnian lady. We’ve already turned this over to the FBI.” [More]