Prof. Emmanuel Mauleón Quoted in MinnPost About Calling Minneapolis Shooting a Hate Crime

Professor Emmanuel Mauleón was quoted in MinnPost about the Minneapolis school/church shooting and its characterization as a hate crime. Shortly after the shooting, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the violence would be investigated as a hate crime against Catholics and an act of domestic terrorism. Some legal analysts have called Patel’s move a rush to judgment. They say the motivation of Robin Westman, who killed two children and wounded 21 others by shooting through a window of the church, may never be known, but that Patel’s decision to investigate the shooting as a hate crime aligns with the Trump administration’s refocus of the Justice Department to redirect resources to “anti-Christian bias.” Prof. Mauleón said federal hate crime statutes were born of the Civil Rights Movement and aimed at protecting minorities, then expanded to include those “more marginalized within the general public.” Of this shooting, he said, “There’s a focus on anti-Christian bias, but that’s not reflected in the data.”