Screenshot : First Coast News

Florida strikes again.



On Wednesday, the St. Johns County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office arrested 60-year-old John Jay Smith after authorities say he went on a racist rant, while armed, outside a local McDonald’s against two men he believed to be Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent.


According to First Coast News, the incident occurred early Wednesday outside a McDonald’s in St. Augustine, Fla. According to authorities, Smith started verbally attacking the two men who were eating hamburgers in the parking lot, saying, “Get out of my country; you do not deserve to eat here.” He approached the men while holding a switchblade or some sort of automatic knife, officials say.

One of the victims told police that Smith said, “Get the fuck out of here; you don’t deserve American food.”


According to Action News Jax, the victims included an Egyptian exchange student as well as two of his friends.

Smith then approached his vehicle and pulled out a stun gun, which he called his “zapper,” and stalked the men as they entered their vehicle, authorities say. He put his arm inside the men’s vehicle and tried to use the stun gun on one of the men, officials charge.

Of course, the altercation startled the driver, who reversed into a pole in the parking lot, causing minor damage to the rear bumper, according to authorities.

Deputies arrived shortly after that and interviewed Smith, the victims and an employee at the McDonald’s.


“We are scared from the whole situation, not because he got out, but the whole thing. It was scary from the beginning,” one of the victims told News 4 Jax. “We’re just mentally, physically and subconsciously drained right now. This is just too much for us.”

Smith told deputies upon their arrival, “I am American and the guys by the vehicles were making [a] ruckus, so I told them to get out of here and one of them pulled a gun and they left in a red vehicle,” Action News Jax reports.


Deputies said that Smith smelled of alcohol and was slurring his words.

Deputies also said that they heard Smith say, “They killed my son,” adding that the 60-year-old was rambling about how his “son died in Afghanistan while in combat with the Marines,” according to the police report.


Smith is facing two third-degree felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one first-degree felony charge of burglary with assault or battery, and a third-degree felony charge of trespassing.