Hammer-wielding woman seen in viral video making racist remarks is charged with 3 felonies

A hammer-wielding woman videotaped shouting racial slurs outside the family home in St. Louis last year was charged with three felonies on Wednesday, authorities said.

Fatima Suarez, 22, who said her family had been harassed for more than a year, said Wednesday she shouldn’t have taken viral Ring camera video to trigger charges.

The video captured the woman appearing to bang Suarez’s front door with a hammer and shouting racist remarks. Suarez originally posted the video on TikTok, and it was reposted by a popular user this week.

“It’s ridiculous that you have to take a viral video for them to do something,” Suarez said. “It’s good news that she’s finally been charged.”

The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office identified the woman as Judy Ann Kline, 54, of St. Louis. She is charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree property damage and unlawful use of a weapon in connection with a break-in at Suarez’s home on January 5, 2022.

Suarez said that encounter began when her father and younger sister, then 4, heard a commotion in the basement.

Suarez’s father went to the basement and saw a stranger holding a hammer, Suarez said. The woman had entered the house by breaking a glass door, she said.

Suarez’s father closed a door leading to the basement and walked out with his young daughter, Suarez said.

The woman then showed up at the front door, where a Ring video appears to show her swinging a knocker at the door and shouting racist remarks.

Suarez said the attack was racially motivated.

“The purpose of the break-in wasn’t even to steal anything. It was because of race,” Suarez said. She noted that her family was of Mexican descent.

In the Ring video, the woman is heard demanding papers because “I know you didn’t buy this house – you don’t have enough money”.

In another part of the video, the woman says, “Leave my property! Other images show the woman describing herself as an “American citizen, mad at you”.

The woman is also heard on the video saying, “What the hell are you doing at my house? Get out, b—-. Get out. This is my house,” according to a probable cause statement.

Kline also smashed the glass door to a clothes dryer in the home, according to the probable cause statement, which also noted that “the defendant allegedly returned to this address several times in the year since the incident.” .

A search of public records showed that the Kline surname was affiliated with the Suarez house in the 90s. Suarez said she had heard rumors that Kline grew up in the house or that her family was from it. owner decades ago.

Suarez said his family had lived in the house for about a decade.

It was unclear Wednesday afternoon if Kline had an attorney. She could not immediately be reached for comment.

Suarez said Kline harassed her family for a year, including on Feb. 1 when she allegedly tried to pick the lock on the door. In March, Suarez also accused Kline of stealing mail in March and sitting outside the house for hours in December.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the woman was arrested in connection with other disturbances at the home in 2022. The arrests, on allegations of municipal trespassing and miscellaneous disturbing the peace, took place on March 17 and December 12, respectively. , reported the newspaper.

NBC News requested tapes of the arrests but did not immediately receive them on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the city prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

Ahead of the announcement of the charges, the Circuit Attorney’s Office said in a statement Wednesday that when police submit cases, the police department determines the threat to public safety to assess whether the cases “should be reviewed in 24 hours following the request for an arrest warrant”.

The prosecutor’s office “has raised the warrant request related to this case and is awaiting video evidence that was not originally submitted and is now circulating on the internet,” the statement said.