Surveillance video captured the suspect smashing the museum’s windows one by one in September 2023.
SEATTLE — The Wing Luke Museum will get money from the city to patch up broken windows and other damage from an alleged hate crime last year.
The Seattle City Council approved the funding Tuesday afternoon to help the business, which is the only pan-Asian art and history museum in the United States. The museum will receive $100,000 combined from the city and Washington state to help with repairs.
The Seattle Police Department (SPD) said it responded to the area around 6 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2023, after receiving several 911 calls reporting a man with a sledgehammer destroying windows and shouting racial slurs.
When officers arrived, SPD said the suspect, Craig Day Milne, was still on the scene and told police, “The Chinese have been torturing [me] for years and [I have] to do something.” According to police, he destroyed approximately 10 windows valued at around $100,000.
Milne was placed under arrest for a hate crime offense and first-degree malicious mischief, or property damage, according to police. His trial is set for April 24.
Stan Shikuma, co-president of the Seattle chapter of the Japanese-American Citizens League, said an after-hours event was happening inside when the vandalism occurred.
“We heard sounds of glass breaking, someone looked out and said, ‘There’s someone with a sledgehammer,’ so staff rushed out to see what was happening,” Shikuma said. “The person with the sledgehammer was just leaning up against the wall, he just had the sledgehammer in one hand and the staff was trying to talk to him.”
Surveillance…
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