COULD A WHITE SOLDIER’S STABBING DEATH BY A GROUP OF BLACK MEN HAVE BEEN A HATE CRIME?

Tevin Geike, 20, was walking down a street in Lakewood, Wash., with two of his fellow Army soldiers when a car full of black men reportedly drove by and shouted a racial comment. One of the soldiers apparently responded by calling out the group’s disrespect for combat veterans.

What followed were deadly events that have police investigating whether Geike, who was fatally stabbed during a subsequent altercation, was the victim of a hate crime.

The soldier, an aviation operations specialist, died in a parking lot, police say, after the men got out of the car and proceeded to fight with the three combat veterans. While it was mostly a verbal altercation, one of the men reportedly stabbed Geike while the group was retreating back toward the vehicle.

Bleeding profusely, he dropped to the ground and died at the scene as the five suspects — all said to be in their mid-20s — drove away.

More