Woman accused of hitting child, 6, on Strip faces hate crime charge
A woman was arrested on suspicion of committing a hate crime after a Las Vegas shopper said the woman shouted racial slurs while hitting the shopper’s 6-year-old son July 5 on the Strip.
The shopper posted cellphone footage showing a portion of the confrontation to social media service TikTok.
Officers were called at about 11:25 a.m. July 5 to the 3700 block of Las Vegas Boulevard South for report of a battery, police said. The caller said that a 6-year-old child had been struck in the head by a woman later identified as Shelly Ann Hill, 57.
The child did not sustain any visible injuries, police said. In video posted to TikTok, the accuser in the case said her son was attacked as they shopped together on the Strip.
“She punched my 6-year-old in the neck while yelling racist, anti-Asian things,” the shopper, identified on TikTok as @uhmmajo, wrote in the post.
A Las Vegas police arrest report for Hill released Wednesday states Hill started to yell at the family about COVID-19 and was “ranting about China” during the confrontation. When Hill was arrested, Hill confirmed she “recalls interacting with the family and denied getting physical or hitting anyone.”
“However, she did mention that a woman did film her so she threaten(ed) to kill them,” police said.
Police located Hill on July 10 and arrested her in connection with the case, officials said Monday. She was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of battery and committing a hate or bias crime, jail records show.
A criminal complaint in the case has not been filed. Hill’s arrest report had not been released as of Monday.
Hill is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.