MIAMI – A white Florida man has been charged after he pointed a gun at a Black homeowner and accused the other man of stealing a flyer from his own mailbox, authorities said.
Joseph Max Fucheck, 58, faces felony charges of aggravated assault with a firearm with prejudice and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced Tuesday. He's being charged under the state's hate crime law.
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“It is sad that racism can turn the most mundane act into a confrontation with potentially violent overtones,” Fernandez Rundle said in a statement.
The victim was speaking with a neighbor outside his Miami-area home on June 14 when Fucheck drove by in an SUV, placed a flyer in the victim's mailbox and drove away, investigators said.
After the victim retrieved the card for Fucheck's real estate business, Fucheck drove back down the street, exited the SUV and began yelling obscenities at the victim, officials said. Fucheck accused the victim of stealing the card, despite the victim's insistence that it was his home and his mailbox.
Officials said Fucheck pulled out a handgun and demanded the card back. The victim began to record the encounter with his cellphone camera, officials said. Fucheck can be heard on the video using racist slurs and claiming "this is why you people get shot" before eventually driving away, authorities said.
Jail records didn’t list an attorney for Fucheck who could comment on the charges.
Video of the confrontation was obtained and posted by the Miami Herald.