Police investigate acid attack on Milwaukee's south side as a hate crime; suspect in custody

Sophie Carson | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Milwaukee man who suffered second-degree burns to his face in an acid attack Friday said Saturday he's now scared to walk around in his own city.

Mahud Villalaz, 42, on Saturday remained stunned by his encounter on Milwaukee's south side with a man at a bus stop who began berating him and then threw acid onto his face from a metal bottle.

Police said early Sunday that they had arrested a 61-year-old man in connection with an "aggravated battery" near the same location on Friday.

Villalaz's family released a statement thanking police for an arrest in the case.

"We wish to thank Chief Alfonso Morales and all the professionals at the Milwaukee Police Department for their efforts in bringing the attacker to justice," the statement reads.

On Saturday Villalaz said he no longer felt safe.

"I feel scared being an American citizen. I feel scared that I cannot feel protected in my own country with my neighbors," Villalaz told reporters at a news conference Saturday where he spoke in both Spanish and English.

Villalaz, who grew up in Peru and immigrated to the United States as a young man, is a U.S. citizen. Police are investigating the attack as a hate crime and searching for the suspect, and prominent Latino leaders in Milwaukee are speaking out against racism.

"I'm angry that an innocent man has been so viciously attacked. I'm angry that a racist was able to live out his beliefs through violence against one of my constituents," said state Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa, D-Milwaukee, said at the news conference.

According to Villalaz and police, about 8:30 p.m. he parked his truck outside a Mexican restaurant in the 2600 block of South 13th Street and headed inside for dinner when a man at a bus stop on the street corner approached him.

"'You cannot park here. You are doing something illegal,'" Villalaz recalled the man saying.

The comments quickly adopted an anti-immigrant tone.

"'Why did you come here and invade my country?'" Villalaz said the man asked him.

Villalaz ignored the man and moved his truck one block forward. As he returned to the restaurant, the man began accusing him anew of being in the U.S. illegally.

"The man was still there, stopped on the corner, awaiting me with an open bottle," Villalaz told reporters. He thought maybe the silver, metallic bottle contained liquor.

He told the man he was in fact a citizen, and that everyone in the U.S. came from somewhere else originally, and the man "got mad," he said. He tossed the acid at Villalaz, who turned his head. The substance covered the left side of his face.

The acid burned through his jacket and sweatshirt below. In terrible pain, Villalaz ran inside the restaurant to wash it from his face. He believes the man ran away.

"My son calls me today — 'Daddy, what happened with you?' And what (can I) tell him? Some crazy guy did this to me," Villalaz said through tears.

Milwaukee police had described the suspect as a white man, about 6 feet tall with a medium build.

He was last seen wearing a blue winter jacket with the hood up, black pants, black shoes and carrying a white shopping bag and a black satchel with the container of acid, police said.

Villalaz said the man was in his 50s or 60s and clean shaven with a round face.

Darryl Morin, the head of Milwaukee-based advocacy group Forward Latino, speculated that the man planned to attack a Hispanic person and lauded Milwaukee police for investigating it as a hate crime.

"I don't see how it could be anything else, as this is, sadly and tragically, a textbook case of hate," Morin said. "I dare say it was premeditated — because no one walks around with a bottle of acid and hangs out in a predominantly Latino neighborhood for no reason."

Milwaukee Ald. José Perez in a statement Saturday called the attack a “heinous crime” and an act of “senseless violence.”

“We as a community need to come together to work through our differences and learn to respect one another and diffuse conflict,” the statement reads. "We as a country are better than this. Milwaukee is better than this.”

Local leaders said the attack was the manifestation of anti-immigrant rhetoric from American politicians.

"I'm angry that those elected who are in power have used dog whistles and enabled vile rhetoric — vile rhetoric that has led to last night's attack," Zamarripa said. "Racism and xenophobia that would move someone to commit such a heinous crime will not, and cannot, be tolerated."

Morin named multiple instances of violence against Latinos in recent years and drew connections to President Donald Trump's remarks about Mexicans.

"As the American public, as Wisconsinites, we can no longer tolerate the divisive, the hateful, disingenuous remarks being made by our nation's leader and by those who support him," Morin said at the news conference, his voice rising.

"That rhetoric turns into actions, the actions into hate, and we have these tragedies continue over and over again."

Morin called on Wisconsin's legislative leaders to denounce the attack.

"We'll see who really is standing up for Wisconsinites, who's really standing up for our Constitution and democracy," he said.

Villalaz believes many people inside the restaurant saw what happened, and he hopes the man can be caught. He's grateful the man didn't have a gun and that his two young sons were not with him at the time.

Doctors at Ascension Columbia St. Mary's hospital treated Villalaz and released him from the hospital Saturday. At the news conference later in the day, his left cheek, ear and neck were discolored where the acid seared the skin.

The acid also damaged his left eye, which was red and watery Saturday. Villalaz said his sight is blurry, and he has an upcoming doctor’s appointment to check it out further.

"I'm a big guy," he said, and isn't scared too easily, but in those fateful moments outside the restaurant he could see the hate in the man's face.

"It’s the first time in my life I’ve experienced someone’s hate like that," he said.

His family has created a GoFundMe to help with medical bills. Find it here.

Contact Sophie Carson at (414) 223-5512 or scarson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @SCarson_News.