Carbondale Business Owner Attacked with Kerosene
Article about: attack, hate crime, kerosene, religion, witch-burning
Carbondale, Ill.- Carbondale business owner Crystal Payne was attacked almost two weeks ago with kerosene when a customer walked into her alternative religions store.
Payne, who has been trying to call attention to the attack which she considers a hate crime, said the young woman came into the store and asked about bath salts. After a lengthy discussion with Payne, the woman made her choice and proceeded to the counter for checkout.
As Payne rang up the sale, the young woman removed the lid on the water bottle she carried with her and threw its contents over Payne. “Your mind doesn’t accept it when it happens. You try to think that maybe she knocked her water over,” she said.
Then, the smell of the kerosene hit her and she say the woman trying to use a lighter to catch her on fire. Payne fled the store, but was wearing a long belly-dancing skirt and tripped and fell. While she was prone, the attacker stood over her and told her to lie still while she lit her on fire, Payne said.
“Like that was going to happen. I was fighting for my life,” she said.
Payne’s screams attracted the attention of nearby business owners and the attacker fled. The attacker is described as 5′ 3″ African-American woman weighing about 130 pounds. She was dressed in black the day of the attack. Carbondale police are investigating the attack.
Though the police have not called the attack a hate crime, Payne is convinced that it was an attack based on the non-Christian religious orientation of her store. “I have at least six different religions represented here, so I’m not sure exactly which one they were targeting, but throughout history all of them have been persecuted via burning,” she said.
Payne received chemical burns in the attack, but is recovering. Since the attack, she has installed additional security measures in the store and police are patrolling the are more frequently. Her store, “The Country Goddess” is located in downtown Carbondale.
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