A man was charged Monday with a hate crime after he smashed the windows of the Wing Luke Museum, King County prosecutors say.
According to the charges, Craig Milne, 76, used a sledgehammer to break the windows of the museum along Canton Alley South in Seattle on Thursday night, as dozens of patrons inside were touring an exhibit.
Milne, who is white, also was charged with first-degree malicious mischief for causing more than $100,000 worth of property damage, charging papers say.
After smashing the windows, Milne remained outside the building, and was heard saying he had come to the Chinatown International District to cause damage and that “the Chinese ruined my life,” according to witnesses.
Almost an hour later, when Seattle Police Department officers arrived and arrested Milne, he “continued making racially biased statements and expressed no remorse,” the charging documents stated, with Milne telling officers, “The Chinese have tortured and tormented me for 14 years. I don’t regret anything I did here.”
“The blatant racist motivations behind the defendant’s actions, the extreme nature of this property destruction, the disregard for individuals who were inside the building, and the lack of remorse gives the State significant community safety concerns,” prosecutors wrote.
Milne first appeared in court Friday, when a judge set his bail at $30,000. He remained in King County Jail on Monday.
The Wing Luke Museum is a major educational and cultural institution in Seattle and an anchor in the neighborhood. It is the only pan-Asian Pacific American community-based museum in the country.
“The attack and the damage, beyond the physical, was in part symbolic,” museum Executive Director Joël Barraquiel Tan previously told The Seattle Times. “It was targeted. It was planned.”
This is not the first time Milne has been accused of a hate crime. In October 2013, Milne was arrested for allegedly attacking and repeatedly punching an Asian man in the locker room at the Spartan Recreation Center in Shoreline.
King County Sheriff’s Office deputies reported they heard Milne shouting racial slurs against Asian people, saying “they ruined my life.” When he was arrested, Milne fought the deputies and called an Asian officer racial slurs, according to charging documents.
Milne was charged with fourth-degree assault and resisting arrest, according to court documents. The charges were dismissed in 2015, prosecutors said.
Community leaders said the attack Thursday ratcheted up already elevated concerns about public safety among some Asian American and Pacific Islander residents in Seattle. Several criticized the police response time, saying the 52 minutes it took for officers to arrive reflected local law enforcement and city leaders’ disregard for their well-being.
Hate crimes targeting Asians and Asian Americans increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, rising more than 73 percent in 2020, according to FBI data. Since 2020, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has filed 130 cases involving hate crimes, with 20 filed this year so far.
Milne’s arraignment is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Oct. 2 at the King County Courthouse.
Times researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.