The incidents of hate crime have been showing a dangerous growth in the United States with another attack on a convenience store owned by Indian-Americans. A man in Florida tried to set the store on fire assuming it was owned by 'Muslims'.

A 64-year-old man tried to set the store on fire because he thought the owners were Muslim, St Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said, reports CNN.

The accused Richard Lloyd confessed that he wanted to run the Arabs out of the US so he pushed a dumpster in front of the Port St Lucie store and set the contents on fire.

CHARGED WITH FIRST-DEGREE ARSON

Lloyd has been charged with first-degree arson and booked into the St Lucie County Jail in lieu of a $30,000 bond. He told detectives he assumed the store owner was Muslim which made him livid because of "what they are doing in the Middle East," Mascara said.

"It's unfortunate that Lloyd made the assumption that the store owners were Arabic when, in fact, they are of Indian descent," Mascara said.

The sheriff noted that Lloyd's mental health will be evaluated and the state attorney's office will decide if this was a hate crime.

'DOING MY PART FOR AMERICA'

Lloyd told investigators he planned to burn the building because he "was doing his part for America."

According to Mascara, when deputies arrived on Friday morning and saw the store on fire, a man in front of the store put his hands behind his back and told officers to "take me away."

The string of attacks on Indians started with the killing of an Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla in Kansas. It too was an alleged hate crime, as the gunman shot him dead thinking he was an 'Iranian'.

With inputs from ANI

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