Indian customers threatened with assault rifle inside NoDa pizzeria, suspect indicted
A man who allegedly threatened a group of eight Indian customers with an assault rifle at a Charlotte pizza restaurant has been indicted by a grand jury in federal court.
Maurice Hopkins, a face-tattooed 31-year-old, made “racial remarks” to the Indian customers inside Zambies Pizza on North Davidson Street, in the middle of Charlotte’s popular NoDa neighborhood, according to an affidavit for his June arrest. When he was told to leave, he told the customers “he ‘had something for them’ and that he was going to ‘get his AR,’” according to court documents.
Hopkins, of Mount Holly, reportedly left and came back in his car with an assault rifle. When a person, whose name is redacted from court documents, tried to distract Hopkins, he continued into the store saying: “No I’m back here for my pizza, now give me my f— pizza.”
He left without any pizza, according to the police report.
Instead, Hopkins pointed the rifle toward at least two people, police said in court documents originally filed in Mecklenburg County. He also allegedly communicated threats to two people.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers arrested Hopkins for the alleged June 8 assault on June 25 after using license plate readers to identify the car he was in.
Hopkins posted his $50,000 bond the next day. He was arrested again Thursday when the case moved into Charlotte’s federal court.
Hopkins faces one count in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina of interfering with federally protected activities when he attempted to “intimidate and interfere with [the customers] because of their race, color, religion and national origin” as they “were enjoying the goods, services and facilities of the restaurant.”
He also faces a count of threatening the eight customers with force “on account of their race, color, religion and national origin” to intimidate them from exercising their federally protected rights.
Those charges each have a maximum 10-year sentence.
He faces a third charge accusing him of using the rifle to further the other crimes, which infringed on civil rights. That charge has a minimum seven-year sentence.
In Mecklenburg County District Court, Hopkins still faces two charges of communicating threats, two charges of assault by pointing a gun and one charge of going armed to terror of the people.
