A white man accused of shooting his daughter’s boyfriend, who is African American, is out of jail on a lenient $500 bond and charges of malicious wounding. 

But calls have gone out to upgrade the charges to a federal hate crime.

According to local station WAVY, Patrick Creath Jr., 43, of VIrginia Beach, Va., was arrested for the June 19 incident and released from the Virginia Beach Correctional Center. He claims that he fired shots in self defense and that the boyfriend “kept threatening to kill him.” 

Court documents say the man allegedly pointed a weapon at Creath and his daughter and in fear of his life he fired his own weapon at the man’s car several times, striking and seriously wounding him. Police said he remained on the scene and was in possession of the firearm.
However, a Change.org petition was started to increase the firearms charge against Creathe to a federal hate crime with no bond. It has been signed by more than 24,000 people so far. The petition was shared by rapper 50 Cent, singer Trey Songz and civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who claimed that Creath is a member of the Ku Klux Klan.  Police officials have not confirmed, however, whether or not this is true.

50 Cent and Trey Songz even went as far as posting to Instagram the address and phone number of Creath’s roofing business.
The wounded man was not identified and did not speak to reporters about the incident, WAVY reported. He has not been charged. Virginia Beach Police Department spokesperson Linda Kuehn told the station the investigation is ongoing.