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Prosecutors charge man with hate crime after death threats

King County prosecutors charged a 55-year-old Kenneth Dean Sjarpe of Snoqualmie with a felony hate crime after he allegedly threatened to kill three men at a Bellevue gas station and made a similar threat to a man in a Bellevue store.

"He started saying really hateful things like 'hey. go back to your country,'" said George Jarjour.

Jarjour and his brother, Sami, said Sjarpe began screaming ethnic slurs at them while they were filling up at the AM/PM on the 12900 block of Northup Way on May 21. The brothers say they were caught off guard,and at first they and their cousin shouted back at him from their car.

"He was saying back to your country, he started cussing and calling us names," said Sami Jarjour.

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But King County prosecutors say Sjarpe took it to another level, allegedly saying "I'll shoot you, you dirty Muslims." The Jarjours say during the confrontation, Sjarpe jumped into his Bronco.

"He just came right at us with the car, full speed and I didn't know what to do, I kind of just froze. ducked under the car," said Sami Jarjour.

Surveillance images show the Jarjours' car as Sjarpe got closer and allegedly screamed another threat.

"He rolls down his window and he puts his hand out and says 'I will kill you if I ever see you again,'" said George Jarjour.

Sjarpe was arrested by Bellevue police, but police say days after he got out of jail, he threatened to kill an Ethiopian man in a store.

The Jarjour's family, originally from Syria, has lived in Bellevue for the brothers' lifetime and they say they have never encountered racism. The Jarjours host a daily sports podcast on Facebook called "Sont Live."

Now that Sjarpe is charged with a felony hate crime, George Jarjour put it in perspective.

"I've run into who knows how many million people in my 29 years of life," he said. "One person has ever said something really racist and derogatory to me, that's a pretty good number if you ask me."

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