A Florida man pleaded guilty Thursday to committing a hate crime by threatening in a voicemail to shoot people at a local mosque.
Gerald Sloane Wallace pleaded guilty to one account of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by leaving a voicemail with the Masjid Mosque in Miami Gardens on Feb. 19. He allegedly threatened to shoot members of the mosque’s congregation, according to The Associated Press.
“I hate you Muslims, you Muslims are terrible. I hate you people,” Wallace said in the voicemail, according to the Miami Herald. “I’m gonna go down to your center, I’m gonna shoot all ya’ll. … I hate your Allah, I hate your Koran, I hate everything about Islam.”
Wallace’s charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail.
Wallace, who worked as a security guard at a grocery store, told prosecutors that he left similar messages with mosques in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, and had done so out of an “absolute hatred” toward Muslims in the U.S. after the Sep. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the Miami Herald.
Prosecutors sought to have Wallace detained, as they believed he posed a threat to members of the mosques he targeted.
“Wallace said that he calls and emails these mosques because he hates Muslims and has thought about killing them,” prosecutors said in a June court motion. “He believes that all Muslims must leave the United States, whether voluntarily or by force.”
Authorities set Wallace’s sentencing for Jan. 17.
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