Kendall was not a customer at the time when he spotted an employee who appeared to be Middle Eastern in the window. After allegedly hurling an “evil totem” at the employee, Kendall accused him of having a weapon and beat him in the head with a pipe while calling the employee a terrorist, police say.
Al Aqsa is a small, family-run restaurant on a tree-lined street near the city center. But when Kendall walked by the restaurant on what he described as a “warrior’s path,” he saw malice behind its windows, a probable cause affidavit obtained by Salem’s Statesman Journal alleges.
Kendall spotted a woman in the restaurant. But rather than consider that she might have entered the popular restaurant of her own free will, Kendall allegedly assumed she was being held as a slave, due to the kind of shirt she was wearing. Kendall told police that the shirt was a “signal,” according to the affidavit, adding that “that is what Arabs do.”
He allegedly rushed the restaurant when he spotted a “Saddam Hussein-looking guy” inside and decided that he must have been responsible for the woman’s captivity, according to the affidavit. Kendall began shouting that the woman was “free to leave,” until employees asked that he see himself out, the affidavit claims. Kendall left.
But when he exited, he allegedly saw something that incensed him even more: an “evil totem” with Arabic writing outside the restaurant. It is unclear what the “totem” was; Al Aqsa’s storefront is papered with menus and colorful signs advertising the day’s specials. But the item was large enough, according to the affidavit, for Kendall to pick up, carry inside, and hurl at an employee’s head while screaming “get out of America” and “Arab, you need to leave, asshole.” Kendall allegedly began beating the employee’s head with a pipe, which he called the “horn of Gabriel,” in apparent reference to a horn blown on the Christian Judgment Day.