One of the three Muslim victims wearing hijabs targeted by a rampaging woman during a hate-fueled 11-minute spree in Brooklyn said she offered the woman a seat on a bench before she was attacked, the Daily News has learned.
The 39-year-old victim was sitting at a bus shelter waiting for a B53 bus with her 11-year-old daughter on Jan. 30 when the suspect, Megan Horne, walked over and plopped down on the ice-covered sidewalk, the victim told The News Friday.
“(Horne) came and she sat down on the ground on the ice,” said the victim, who wished not to be named. The victim was heading to the gym when Horne showed up, she said. “I took off my bag and told her, ‘Have a seat.’ She sat next to me and thanks me.”
Things took a dark turn a few moments later when the bus arrived. The victim’s child had just gotten on the bus when Horne suddenly shoved the Muslim mom.
“She came from behind and pushed me in my left shoulder, backwards and said, ‘I’m the first!’ and come in front of me and blocked the path,” the woman recalled. “(She) kept talking and moving her hands up. I just told her I want to catch the bus, my kid is inside (but) she keeps talking.”
“I was surprised,” the victim said. “I think immediately that maybe she was drinking or something.”
The victim and her daughter — who was celebrating her 11th birthday that day — rode the bus in silence while Horne stood nearby. At times Horne came up and mumbled something about the child’s beauty, the victim remembered.
“When the police took me to their office, my kid was with me,” she said. “She listened to what happened.”
It was only then that the victim learned that two other Muslims wearing hijabs had been attacked by the same woman, authorities said.
At about 2:20 p.m. that Friday, Horne allegedly stormed up and kicked a 33-year-old woman in a hijab — a head scarf that religious Muslim women wear — outside a preschool on Fifth Ave. near 89th St., according to officials.
She yelled, “Get out of this country!” and fled, Assistant District Attorney Ari Rottenberg said Thursday.
Five minutes later, Horne ran up to a 12-year-old Muslim girl near the corner of 92nd St. and Gelston Ave., punching the preteen in the face before storming off to the bus stop, the prosecutor said.
“Each of the complainants was wearing a hijab at the time of the incident,” Rottenberg said.
None of Horne’s victims was seriously injured.
Horne was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with multiple counts of assault and aggravated harassment as hate crimes, meaning she will be facing stiffer possible jail sentences when convicted.
Rottenberg said police found surveillance footage of Horne from the first attack in the spree, showing her getting into a Ford Bronco registered to someone connected to Horne through domestic-incident reports.
The two adult victims weren’t able to pick Horne out of a photo array, Rottenberg said — but Horne told police she was the person in an image from the surveillance footage.
“That’s me in the pictures. I don’t remember that day. I drink a lot. I drank all that day,” she told cops, according to Rottenberg.
Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Edward Daniels let her free on supervised release, provided she completes a planned 28-day inpatient alcohol treatment program.
Her lawyer, Isabel Zeitz-Moskin of Brooklyn Defender Services, said Horne has a “stable residence” living with her aunt, and was planning to start a new job Monday as a dispatcher and administrative assistant.
“She has every intention of returning to court,” the attorney added. “She wants to fight these charges.”
The bias-fueled spree drew the ire of Mayor Mamdani late Wednesday.
“I am outraged by the despicable, cowardly attacks against Muslim New Yorkers in Bay Ridge last week — one of which was on a 12-year-old girl,” Mamdani posted on X. “This violence is unacceptable, and we know that all too often visibly Muslim, hijab-wearing women and girls bear the brunt of it.”
“Muslim New Yorkers deserve to live with safety and dignity, and to be able to walk our streets free from harassment, threats, or harm,” the mayor continued. “Islamophobia has no place in our city, and violence or intimidation against Muslim New Yorkers is unacceptable.”
