A family in Lawrenceville, a suburb of Atlanta, said they were attacked by an unknown Muslim woman wearing a full burqa simply because they were flying an American flag for Memorial Day.
Amina Ali Ahra, 30, was arrested Tuesday on two counts of simple battery after being accused of attacking a mother and daughter at their home, reported Fox 5 News in Atlanta.
Dami Arno told police she was in the garage talking with her daughter when Ahra emerged from the woods wearing a burqa, grabbed the flag from off the mailbox and charged at them.
She told Fox 5 she still can’t believe it all happened on American soil.
The alleged attacker told police she is “from Africa,” but would give them no other information about her identity, not even a local address.
The U.S. government has imported more than 132,000 Somali refugees, and thousands more from Sudan, over the past 25 years. Atlanta has a large Somali refugee community.
“A lady walked out of our woods in a full burqa, full attire, stares at us for a minute, then grabs my American flag off of my mailbox and charges towards us with it, just swinging it with all her might,” the wife and mother told the news outlet.
Watch Fox 5 report below:
[jwplayer Rrg37Ur0]
The Muslim woman was at least 6-foot-2 in stature and very strong, Arno said.
“When she came charging, it was kinda like momma bear instincts kicked in. She had to protect her children,” daughter Brittany Arno said.
Arno said when Ahra grabbed the flag; the two women began to fight. That is when Arno’s 17-year-old daughter jumped in and her 14-year-old son grabbed the family gun.
The mother showed bruises on her arms in the Fox 5 report.
Fox 5 reporter Angelique Proctor tweeted the story but did not mention the burqa.
Georgia is a pro-Second Amendment state where no licenses are required to bear firearms in one’s home.
Two neighbors ran to help and held Ahra down for seven minutes until Lawrenceville police arrived.
Ahra “never uttered a word and seemed possessed,” the mother and daughter told Fox 5.
“I have friends who have fought and died for the red, white and blue. When she took it down, it was not disrespect, it was not a slap in the face, it was a punch to the gut,” Arno told Fox 5.
Some neighbors in the area said they were upset that the Muslim woman was only charged with simple battery and not a hate crime.
Ahra remained in the Gwinnett County Adult Detention Center as of Wednesday evening. Her bond has been set at $2,950 for each charge of simple battery, a misdemeanor.
The U.S. State Department, working with the United Nations, has sent 4,054 Somali refugees to the state of Georgia since 2002, according to the State Department’s online refugee database. Lawrenceville has received 21 Somalis during that time, but nearby Atlanta has received 1,203 and neighboring Clarkston has received 437, Decatur 1,039 and Stone Mountain 1,096.
WND is seeking information on Ahra’s status (stay tuned for updates on this story).
