Illinois man accused of Nazi salute while screaming 'white power' at Black children

A man in the unincorporated village of New Lenox, Illinois just outside Chicago is facing hate crime charges after an alleged incident at a Walgreens, according to WGN9 News.

"Police responded to a Walgreens, located on Nelson Road, on Thursday at around 7:30 p.m. Police said a woman was exiting the store and her three children, two of whom are African American, remained in the vehicle," said the report. "Upon approaching her vehicle, the mother noticed a man, now known as Justyn Giarraputo, 37, was parked in a vehicle next to hers. The mother said she saw Giarraputo strike his chest, extend his arm in a Nazi salute and yelled 'white power' at the family."

According to the report, the woman took a picture of his license plate, allowing police to track him down and arrest him. He has been released on $5,000 bond pending trial.

Hate crimes have been rising recently; an FBI report in November indicated that bias-related killings alone are at record levels, and that hate crimes as a whole are at their highest level since 2008.