Delco Man Yelled Racial Slurs At Muslim Women In Wawa, Had Firearms Cache: Cops

An Upper Providence (Delaware County) man has been arrested for making racial threats toward two Muslim black women during a road rage-related incident at a Wawa parking lot in Upper Darby, police Chief Michael J. Chitwood said. A cache of firearms was later discovered in his home after his arrest.

The Delaware County Times reports that 27-year-old Hovsep Avesyan came up to the women, a 44-year-old mother and her 25-year-old daughter, and began to make ethnic slurs to them after they pulled into a parking spot in Wawa.

He then pulled up his jacket to reveal a firearm and yelled at them "Go back to where you belong. Go back to Africa," the report states.

Avesyan then went inside the store and continued to curse and yell, to the point where the women were afraid to enter the store without removing their head veils, police said.

As part of his bail, Avesyan was required to turn over all of his firearms. In a safe at his home, police found 21 firearms, smoke grenades, bullet proof vests, and thousands of rounds of ammunition, Chitwood said.

A preliminary hearing is set for December 6.

Patch file photo.