Florida Man Arrested After Allegedly Trying To Mow Down Local LGBT Running Club With SUV
Mustafa El Mahmoud reportedly accelerated toward a group of queer runners, made multiple passes and drove recklessly before fleeing.
Featured Image: Ihab Mustafa El Mahmoud in a police booking photo. (West Palm Beach Police Department)
A Florida man was arrested for allegedly trying to drive his vehicle into a group of LGBTQIA+ runners at a local park. According to a West Palm Beach Police Department press release, Ihab Mustafa El Mahmoud, 43, was apprehended on Monday, November 24, after “attempting to strike members of a local running club at a park, making multiple passes and driving recklessly before fleeing.” Witnesses said the driver of the Ford Bronco SUV was “intentionally” trying to hit them.
According to the release, witnesses reported that El Mahmoud had “accelerated toward the runners, making a second attempt to strike them…[H]e then drove recklessly along sidewalks, through grass, and up an embankment before fleeing eastbound onto Okeechobee Boulevard.”
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ABC has reported that the club, Night Runners WPB, organizes walks and runs every Monday and Thursday night. Club participant and founder, Rudolph Galindo, 40, told ABC News that he asked El Mahmoud if he was there for the running group, but the question “bothered” the suspect. He then proceeded to get in the car and accelerate in reverse directly toward Galindo in the parking lot. Police later determined that El Mahmoud had become “upset over a perceived comment by a male member of the running club, leading to his agitation and subsequent actions.”
“Proud to be leaders of the group to ensure a fun, positive, motivational
and community oriented environment for ALL,” caption reads.
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Galindo, who has served as the LGBTQ+ Liaison for the City of West Palm Beach, saw that the car was speeding in the direction of the group and yelled a warning for other club members to clear out of the lot. Many scrambled for cover and hid behind trees. The runner, who described the experience as “traumatic,” told ABC that he thought the car was racing toward him at 60-80 mph.
“It was a shock,” Galindo also told CBS News 12 WPEC, which broadcast cell phone video of the car barreling through Howard Park. “I was in shock while it was happening.
West Palm Beach Police responded around 8:20 pm Monday, and shortly after, saw someone matching the suspect’s description pulling into a parking garage and attempting to remove the license plate from his vehicle. That individual, Mustafa El Mahmoud, was then taken into custody.
The arrest report says the perp “willingly, knowingly and intelligently” tried to run over the group. He has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony and one count of reckless driving. Officials are reviewing charges to determine whether the incident meets the state’s hate crime criteria. El Mahmoud is being held without bond to determine whether he will be held in pre-trial detention.
