Burnsville Resident Threatened Somali Man, Smashed Windows: Cops

BLOOMINGTON, MN — A Burnsville man has been charged with one count of threats of violence and one count of property damage, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Tuesday.

Jason Gerardy, 39, is accused of smashing windows on a car that belonged to his father and a Somali man. He is scheduled to make his next court appearance Thursday, according to a news release.

According to a criminal complaint, Bloomington police were dispatched Nov. 23 to an apartment building near 9100 Old Cedar Avenue, where witnesses said a man was smashing car windows with a large piece of metal in a parking lot nearby.

Matching witness descriptions, police said they found Gerardy walking on Old Cedar Avenue and bleeding badly from his right hand. He told officers he smashed windows on his father’s car following an argument they had and broke "some Somalian’s windows" based on his racial biases, police said.

Police said they went to the parking lot and found three heavily damaged vehicles. One person — both Somali and Muslim — whose car was damaged by Gerardy said he was "afraid of him" since Gerardy had made comments to apartment neighbors that he does not like Muslims, according to the criminal complaint.

Gerardy’s father had two vehicles that were damaged, with estimated repair costs of nearly $5,000, the complaint states.

A witness told police he was on a first-floor balcony and saw Gerardy smashing car windows, police said. Gerardy repeatedly threatened the man with a large piece of metal, police said they were told.

Gerardy stated that he was going to "kill" this person, while also using a racial slur to insult the person, the complaint adds.