A white man who fatally stabbed a Black father of two outside a Kansas City, Missouri, gas station will be charged with federal hate crimes, even as local prosecutors struggle with charging him for the man’s slaying.
Witnesses describe the attack as being marked by racially bigoted slurs specifically targeting the Black victim.
A federal grand jury indicted Sean Walter Tonkin, 36, on Dec. 20 for committing a “racially-motivated hate crime” that resulted in the death of Jon Rone Jr., 41.
Additionally, Jackson County prosecutors have charged Tonkin with misdemeanor disturbing the peace and possession of methamphetamine, and the Florida resident was being held in a local jail.
According to the Department of Justice, Tonkin was armed with a knife and knuckles when he walked up to Rone during the Fourth of July holiday around 2:30 p.m. It is alleged that Tonkin started to spew “racial epithets and threats” at the Black man before stabbing him twice, once in his chest and then in his abdomen during the deadly encounter.
Rone later succumbed to his injuries. Law enforcement successfully located and apprehended the assailant a few miles from the crime scene. The Justice Department asserts that Tonkin targeted the man due to his race, specifically because he was Black.
A few of Rone’s friends and family members said they believed Tonkin was looking for a fight on that afternoon.
Witnesses to the stabbing told police that the white man had used the slurs to them and continued to say it after he was told to stop before directing them to Rone. They also say Tonkin threw the first punch, which led to the two fighting.
Surveillance video showed Rone following Tonkin to the side of the business with a club in his hand until he was out of the camera’s view. Minutes later, Rone stumbled back into the store and said, “he stabbed me,” before falling to the ground.
Rone’s girlfriend, Misty Beck, told The Kansas City Star…
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