Man allegedly threatened DC school crossing guard: ‘I used to shoot people like you at the border’

Police in Washington, D.C., are investigating a suspected hate crime after a man allegedly yelled racial slurs at and threatened an elementary school crossing guard.

The crossing guard told police that he was on duty at Lafayette Elementary School in the Chevy Chase neighborhood earlier this week when a man drove by and threatened to shoot or run over him, according to NBC 4.

{mosads}The guard said the man called him an immigrant and said that he “did not belong working in this area around white kids.”

The police report says that the aggressor, claiming he was a Marine, said that he “used to shoot people like [the crossing guard] at the border.”

According to police, the driver turned his car around and continue to yell and the guard, threatening to shoot him and yell derogatory remarks at him.

The crossing guard has been temporarily assigned to another school, and D.C. police have provided extra security near the elementary school, according to NBC 4.

D.C. police are facing criticism for a slow response to the 911 call about the incident, which happened Monday afternoon, according to The Washington Post.

Lily Buerkle, a parent at the elementary school who called 911 to report a “very erratic angry man” threatening the crossing guard, said in an email to D.C. Council Member Mary Cheh that the “sluggish” police response was “alarming.”

“My daughter is pretty upset at what she witnessed today,” Buerkle said in her email to Cheh, the Post reported. “She continues to ask where that man is and if he is going to come back.” 

A spokeswoman for the 911 response center told the Post that Buerkle’s call was incorrectly classified as “low priority,” even though she reported the man was threatening to shoot.

Police responded to a second call made by the school nurse about a half hour after Buerkle’s original call.

A spokesman for the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department told The Hill Wednesday afternoon that the case remains under investigation.