The law was named after an African-American man who was killed in a brutal fashion by white supremacists in 1998. Hate Crimes Act has been on the statute books since 2001. Texas has had a hate crimes statute for more than 15 years but convictions are seldom brought under the law, we noted on our blog. They said they did not believe he knew Perez, and his family told investigators they knew of no reason why Jones would go to the Zona Caliente Sports Bar and Grille. Police were awaiting the results of toxicology tests to come back to find out if Jones might have been under the influence of any substance, reported Fox. We’re looking to see if there were any mental health issues going on.” “There’s been a crisis in this community from a lot of veterans coming back that have to deal with issues and stuff like that.

Police also alluded to mental health issues that some veterans have faced after returning from combat zones. He was also armed with two guns and two knives, Police say the 48-year-old gunman entered the restaurant and started shouting what police say people in the restaurant considered racial comments before shooting Perez. Jones, an Army veteran from 1989 to 1992 entered the restaurant and started shouting what some people considered to be racist comments before he shot Perez dead. Arlington sports bar shooting investigated as a hate crime

Zona caliente sports bar