By Khalida Sarwari
San Jose City Councilwoman Rose Herrera is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrests of those responsible for attacking an East Indian man in a hate crime in November.
The attack happened the night of Nov. 21 in the parking lot of a Lucky’s store at 3270 South White Road.
Three men approached the victim, 32-year-old Atul Lall, as he was leaving the parking lot in his car, and one of them called him a “terrorist.”
Another suspect then opened Lall’s door, and the first suspect hit him in the head with a tequila bottle.
The suspects remain at large, and detectives are investigating the case as a hate crime.
Herrera announced at a news conference at the San Jose Police Department this morning that her office is offering a $1,000 reward in the case.
“An attack against one person in our community is an attack against all of us, and I take that very seriously,” Herrera said. “We want to make sure this never happens again.”
San Jose police have released a sketch of one of the suspects in the attack. He is described as a heavyset Hispanic man in his 20s with a medium complexion, standing at 5 feet 6 inches tall. He has black hair and brown eyes and was wearing tan clothing.
Little information is available about the second suspect, other than that he is in his 20s and either white or Hispanic. He was wearing dark-colored clothing.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call police Detective Michael Villanueva at (408) 277-4161. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at (408) 947-STOP (7867) or visit http://svcrimestoppers.org/.
