Campus police at San Diego State University were on the lookout Friday for a man who assaulted a Muslim student, tearing off her head scarf and threatening her while spewing racist epithets.
The suspected hate crime occurred about 1:45 p.m. Thursday in a parking lot off Zura Way, on the eastern side of the campus.
The assailant — described as a thin, black-haired, roughly 5-foot-11-inch white man in his 20s with green or hazel eyes — pushed and jostled the woman while making menacing and insulting remarks, according to campus police.
Carrie Hogan, a detective with the SDSU Police Department, declined to disclose a suspected motive for the crime, citing concerns about compromising the agency's investigation into the incident.
The San Diego office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, however, reported that the assailant apparently battered the woman and pulled off her hijab, or traditional head veil, due to her religion or cultural identity.
A Council on American-Islamic Relations statement released Friday afternoon said the encounter "may be related to the backlash against the American Muslim community since the recent terror attacks in Paris."
The attacker, who was wearing jeans, a gray sweater and white shoes, fled to the south, toward another parking area, according to SDSU police.
The victim reported no injuries.
