Suspect Charged With Hate Crime in Acid Attack on Hispanic Man

John Ismay

November 7, 2019 9:27 PM

A 61-year-old white man who is accused of splashing acid on a Hispanic man’s face and telling him to “go back” to his country has been charged with a hate crime by prosecutors in Milwaukee.

Suspect Charged With Hate Crime in Acid Attack on Hispanic Man

The prosecutors also filed charges of first-degree reckless injury and use of a dangerous weapon against the suspect, Clifton Blackwell, on Wednesday. He faces a total of 35 years in prison and $105,000 in fines.

According to charging documents, the episode began Friday night when Blackwell yelled at Mahud Villalaz, 42, for parking too close to a bus stop, saying “Why did you invade my country?” and “Why don’t you respect my laws?”

Villalaz, who is a U.S. citizen, moved his truck and walked back toward the restaurant’s entrance, prosecutors say, but Blackwell continued to berate him, calling him an “illegal” before splashing him in the face with a bottle of acid. A surveillance camera caught the attack on video.

Villalaz suffered second-degree burns on his face and third-degree burns on his neck, as well as irritation to his left eye.

Wisconsin state law provides for an additional fine of $5,000 and a maximum of five more years in jail for felonies in which the perpetrator selects a victim because of their national origin, “whether or not the actor’s belief or perception was correct.” Villalaz, who was born in Peru, became a U.S. citizen in 2013.

A search of Blackwell’s home recovered muriatic acid, four bottles of sulfuric acid and two bottles of lye-based drain opener, police said.

In an interview this week, Villalaz said he had stopped after work to get carne asada and carnitas tacos at La Sierrita restaurant, located in a majority-Hispanic neighborhood south of downtown Milwaukee, when he was attacked. “I don’t know the guy, and he did that to me,” Villalaz said. “Who carries a bottle of acid?"

This article originally appeared in

John Ismay