CALIFORNIA: A man has been charged with a hate crime after allegedly attacking a Sikh employee of a California 7-Eleven convenience store on Wednesday.

Marysville Police Department say the man who was arrested on suspicion of assaulting the convenience store clerk admitted the attack telling the authorities he attacked the clerk because he hated Muslims.

Surveillance video of the incident shows the man, identified as John Crain, throwing coffee at the clerk and punching him in the face before fleeing a 7-Eleven on the 400 block of 9th Street just before 2 a.m.

A local news station confirmed that the clerk was Sikh, and not Muslim. The clerk reportedly survived the incident with a burn on his face, and injuries from the hot coffee.

This latest in increasing levels of hate crimes against Sikh has been met with widespread condemnation from local, national and international Sikh groups and representatives.

Police said officers were dispatched to the same store later that afternoon for another reported assault and spotted Crain walking away from the area. John Crain (pictured below) admitted to the officers that he had assaulted the clerk during the previous night’s incident.

During the investigation Crain told police he hated Muslims and that’s why he had attacked the clerk. He was later booked into Yuba County Jail for theft, assault and hate crimes charges.