SPOKANE — A 26-year-old man who witnesses say threatened to shoot up Eastern Washington University and used racial slurs while gathering signatures for a petition at the school was sentenced to three months in jail.
Justin Hale pleaded guilty Dec. 7 to harassment after being arrested in October on suspicion of threats to bomb or injure property, according to court documents.
Spokane County Superior Court Judge Annette Plese ordered Hale to spend three months in jail with 15 days of the sentence converted to 120 hours of community service. Hale was not listed in the Spokane County Jail Wednesday.
Hale’s sister, Crystal Bautista-Cisneros, told The Spokesman-Review in October Hale was gathering signatures on a petition against gender-inclusive and co-ed bathrooms in elementary schools.
One witness told police Hale admitted to using an offensive racial slur and became aggressive, including getting into people’s faces, according to documents. The witness said Hale got in her way and wouldn’t let her leave, so she felt threatened.
She told police she got into a “defensive mode” and got in his face as well as the two shouted at each other. She said Hale continued to use the racial slur and threatened to fight her.
She said more people in the crowd started to take her side, and Hale backed down, telling her he “gang bangs” and he’ll “shoot up the school,” court records say.
Another witness told police Hale showed people his “gang” tattoo during the incident.
The first witness said Hale then grabbed his belongings, got up quickly and pushed her friend while using the racial slur again.
A third witness told police the incident started when a student accidentally knocked Hale’s table over and Hale called the student the racial slur. She said Hale threatened to shoot the school and that he would return the next day, Oct. 20.
Hale told police that students harassed him because they did not like the petitions for which he was trying to get signatures, documents say. He said a man kicked down the stand holding his petitions.
Hale told police a large group of Black students also started harassing him and that he felt threatened and left the area without saying a word. He denied making threats to students and the school.
Court documents show Hale’s criminal history includes failing to register as a sex offender and assault with sexual motivation, with the latter charge occurring when he was a minor.
Plese prohibited Hale from having contact with the university for five years and from coming within 1,000 feet of the school for the same time period.
