James HutchinsA Madisonville, Tenn., man was arrested Sunday at the Lee Highway memorial for the men killed in Thursday’s attacks after he called an officer a racial slur and “preached” loudly at the crowd from a curb, causing the crowd to “react very negatively.”
James Hutchins, 60, “preached from the curb” for almost four hours at the memorial, a mish-mash of American flags, white crosses, and flowers set up at the recruiting center where Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, first opened fire before driving to Amnicola Highway in a methodical attack that killed five men.
Hutchins was shouting words like ‘boy’ and ‘queer’ at people in the crowd in an attempt to get some sort of response, according to the affidavit.
He started around 5:30 p.m. and continued until around 9 p.m., according to the report, pacing the property, shouting, yelling and arguing. Hutchins also repeatedly touched officers after he had been told not to.
At one point, Hutchins and another person got face to face and police had to ask the pair to separate, according to the affidavit. During the confrontation with police, Hutchins called a black officer a racial slur, which caused a stir in the crowd, according to police.