Man with AR-15 who threatened Indian students in NoDa because of race is sentenced
Eight Indian graduate students gathered inside Zambies pizzeria at the tail end of a night in NoDa when a man demanded they speak English and told them to “go back to their country” before brandishing an AR-15, according to federal court documents.
That man, 32-year-old Maurice Hopkins, was sentenced to more than three years in prison in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina on Thursday afternoon. Federal prosecutors found that he targeted the people, who had student visas, because of their race, color, religion and national origin. Hopkins first said the group didn’t belong here, threatened to punch them and then threatened to kill them.
The students’ lives forever changed that day, prosecutors said. All but one returned to India, saying they didn’t feel safe in Charlotte. Most never left campus again. They all declined to continue to be involved in the case because they feared the defendant, prosecutors said.
Hopkins was originally charged with interfering with federally protected activities, interfering with federally protected housing rights and having a firearm during the incident. In a plea deal, prosecutors with U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson’s Office dropped the last two charges.
Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn to sentence Hopkins to 48 months. Hopkins’ federal public defender asked for 36 months. She told Cogburn that Hopkins was in a mental health crisis and had “wholly adopted ... vitriol being repeated by [President Donald] Trump or whoever” at the time of the June 8, 2024, incident.
He has since gotten mental health treatment and has transformed into a new man, she said.
Hopkins, speaking to Cogburn, said he took courses on anger management and anti-discrimination law while in jail and read the Bible and “The Art of Happiness” by the Dalai Lama. He compared his impending time in prison to the half-time of a football game, saying he wants to come out with a new game plan for his life.
Cogburn added three years of supervision to his sentence and ordered that he continue mental health treatment during that time.
This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 3:57 PM.
