Alyssa Marlys Holmberg, 33, was staying with her ex-husband at an apartment building in Waite Park, Minnesota. Waite Park Police Chief David Bentrud told Newsweek the department received multiple 911 calls about Holmberg invading apartments on Saturday and threatening to kill people with a knife.
“She apparently had yelled at some guy who just happened to be walking by, threw a jar of salsa at him and actually hit him in the back,” said Bentrud.
Holmberg was still chasing the man when officers arrived. The Somalian man reported that she had been shouting, “Somali move!” and “Go home Somali,” according to Stearns County court documents.
Multiple witnesses also said that Holmberg was throwing slices of pizza at people in the building.
A family who called 911 reported Holmberg had burst into their apartment while the door was unlocked and threatened to kill them. Holmberg told the family that she hated Somalians and “would be back,” according to court documents. She also allegedly knocked over a baby who was sitting on the floor when she walked in.
Holmberg resisted and threatened the officers who arrested her, said Bentrud. She continued making racist comments while she was being handcuffed and even assaulted one of the cops.
“She kicked and knocked down one of our officers, kicked him in the knee,” the police chief said. Officers put her in a WRAP restraint, a device composed of a locking shoulder harness, leg restraints and ankle straps.
Bentrud faces charges including felony threats of violence, felony second-degree assault, felony first-degree burglary, misdemeanor obstructing the legal process and felony assault motivated by bias, the charge used to prosecute hate crimes.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported 238 hate crimes in 2021, with 191 offenders targeting 271 victims. Incidents motivated by bias against Black or African American people made up the largest proportion of hate crimes, accounting for over 40 percent of reported incidents.
However, hate crimes are notoriously difficult to prosecute. Only 17 percent of hate crime suspects investigated by U.S. attorneys were prosecuted between 2004 and 2019, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Bentrud said that Holmberg seemed “pretty intoxicated” and the police were not aware of prior hate crime-related calls on her record.
“In talking to her ex-husband, there was no prior behavior of this type that he was aware of,” he said. “It’s not clear to us exactly what set her off on this particular Saturday afternoon.”
