A Black mom says a white driver pulled a gun on her and daughter in Raleigh

A Raleigh mother said a white driver pulled a gun on her and her daughter at a Raleigh intersection Monday. Her lawyer said Raleigh police were too slow to respond.

Zariel Balogun, who is Black, said the driver hurled racial slurs at her and her 15-year-old daughter while pointing the gun at them.

At a news conference Wednesday, her attorney Dawn Blagrove called for state and federal charges against the men.

“Let me be clear, this is a hate crime,” said Blagrove, executive director of Emancipate NC, a statewide racial justice non-profit organization. “We expect federal charges. We expect state charges.”

The Raleigh police incident report classifies it as an aggravated assault.

Balogun said Wednesday that she and her 15-year-old daughter were at BJ’s Wholesale Club off Capital Boulevard on Monday and saw two white men who were not wearing masks entering. Balogun said that as she later drove from the store, a black truck first tried to cut her off on a road.

Then, when both were stopped at an intersection, the driver stopped on her passenger side, rolled down his window, pointed the gun, hurled racial slurs, and said she and her daughter were the reason why “we need to make America great again.”

She said she recognized them as the men from BJ’s.

She took a picture of the truck, and called the Raleigh Police Department that evening. In a copy of a 911 call obtained from police by The News & Observer, Balogun description was similar to her account Wednesday, but did not mention the racial slurs.

Balogun said a police officer called her about an hour after her initial 911 call Monday to take her statement, and she told him about the racial slurs. That officer said he would not be investigating, but a detective would be assigned. She emailed him a copy of her picture of the truck.

After hearing nothing Tuesday, a detective called her Wednesday morning, Balogun said. She said she thought she heard back only because the police department learned about the news conference.

Blagrove called on Wake District Attorney Lorrin Freeman to investigate the police response and to investigate the incident itself.

“I want to see the Raleigh Police Department respond with the same vigor that they did to protesters,” Blagrove said.

In an interview Wednesday, Freeman said in her discussions with Raleigh Police Department, she understands that an investigation started when they received the report.

“It sounds to me like there may have been some misunderstanding that they were not going to investigate anything,” she said. “Based on the information I have and the steps I know they have taken, they did initiate an investigation following the initial statement.”

This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 4:58 PM.