Police: Man rips headscarf from Muslim teen, yells 'terrorist'

DUNWOODY, Ga. - Dunwoody police are searching for a man who forcefully yanked a headscarf from a 14-year-old Muslim girl and yelled the word "terrorist" multiple times.

Police said on the evening of Good Friday, as the teenager, friends and an adult left Maggiano's restaurant at Perimeter Mall, the man yelled out "terrorist" multiple times, then ripped the headscarf from the teenager so forcefully she almost fell to the ground. Police said the man took off with and stole the teenager's headscarf.

The man is wanted on charges of simple assault and theft.

"To have this happen in our community is a shock to us," said Sgt. Aaron Belt with Dunwoody Police, who said an event like this has never happened in their diverse, middle to upper-middle-class suburb just north of Atlanta.

Investigators are combing through mall surveillance to find an image of the subject, who can only be described as an older white male. Police consider the man dangerous, as he was willing to ambush and assault a teenage girl.

"The daughter took it in stride. She was strong-willed, she was not deterred from continuing to dress how she wants to dress," said CAIR-Georgia executive director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, who said the teenager's mother was distraught over the ordeal.

Georgia's branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is offering a $1,000 reward for information given to police to find and apprehend the attacker