An Instagram photo of a woman wearing a dark pink hijab, covered in egg, is raising interest with San Leandro police who would like to investigate what happened before she was covered in the goo.
But it appears as though police may never catch the culprits as the woman in the photo told them Wednesday afternoon that she was not interested in pressing charges. She was also "outraged" by the media coverage, according to San Leandro Police Lt. Robert McManus. He added that she was not injured in the Sunday evening egging outside the Walmart on Hesperian Boulevard.
Despite her apparent outrage, it was reportedly her son, identified by ethnic outlets including the Arab American News, as Farad Afshar, a student at Chabot Community College in Hayward, who made the egging public by posting it on Instagram. Other outlets, such as Muslims of America also publicized what happened on its Facebook page, where thousands of people shared the story and commented on the horrible behavior of the person or people who threw the egg.
NBC Bay Area tried to contact the person who appears to be the woman’s son, but he did not respond via Instagram or Facebook for more comment. A phone number couldn't immediately tracked down for him.
In a post on Wednesday, though, a person using what he described as a friend's account, said that his original account got deleted, but “my mom is feeling better thankfully.”
In his original post saved by Muslims of America, Afshar said his mother is the most "kindhearted, loving and selfless person you'll ever meet...The fact that she can't walk out of her home without feeling safe is sickening."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Santa Clara had heard of the egging, but no one had filed a report with the nonprofit, according to executive director Zahra Billoo.
Local
Early Wednesday, McManus said he was alerted on Monday about the egging through Twitter and had spent a few days trying to track the woman down as she had not come forward to police. He had planned to hold a news conference on Wednesday afternoon to help find the culprits. But about 2 p.m., McManus sent an email to reporters saying the news conference was canceled. His detectives had found the woman, he said, who told police she did not want to speak about what happened to her or move forward with a criminal investigation.
Still, McManus said he’s sorry this happened to her. “Race relations in this country are really breaking down,” he said. “This is not what San Leandro is about.”
A woman outside of a Walmart in San Leandro was egged for wearing a hijab. This makes me so furious �� pic.twitter.com/3dJro6IJY9
— sufya (@ayyesophie) July 11, 2016
Was not reported to San Leandro police. Else they would of done something. We have great SL cops. #Teamwork https://t.co/6XwAxDel8p
— San Leandro Events (@SanLeandroEvent) July 11, 2016
