Police in Massachusetts are searching for two suspects a woman says yelled racial slurs and threw a hatchet at her son walking home from school.

Tanya Collins tells WHDH-TV her 14-year-old son had just gotten off the bus when two masked men in a passing vehicle yelled and threw the hatchet at his head, forcing the eighth-grader to duck out of the way. The boy, who is black, was not hurt and ran home.

North Brookfield Police Chief Mark Smith tells the station he considers the confrontation reported Tuesday a hate crime. Smith says he was disgusted but considers it an isolated incident.

The hatchet was not recovered.

A call to police Thursday was not immediately returned.

North Brookfield is a town of fewer than 5,000 people about 50 miles west of Boston.

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Information from: WHDH-TV, http://www1.whdh.com