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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Victim in Kettle Falls assault says family was targeted for their skin color

A man accused of calling a Kettle Falls businessman and his family terrorists, threatening them with a knife and breaking into their home Saturday night is in the Stevens County Jail.

A police report says the man arrested in the case, Brandon Kilgore, told an officer, “I was trained to kill people like them,” while he was being taken to jail.

Preet Moudgil, who was born in India, lives with his family at the Kettle Falls Inn, which he manages. He said Kilgore came into the lobby Saturday and asked for a shower seat for a man who has disabilities and is staying at the motel.

Kilgore, 28, also asked Moudgil if he knew about Guantanamo Bay and made other racist comments, Moudgil said.

Moudgil, whose parents are visiting from India, said that before he had a chance to get a shower seat, the man came back with a knife.

“He said, ‘I’m going to cut you up because you’re a terrorist,’ ” Moudgil said.

Moudgil said the man tried to break down the door between the office and the lobby but was unable to enter. He left the lobby but tried to enter the apartment, attached to the inn’s office, where Moudgil and his family live. Moudgil secured the first-floor doors and windows, but Kilgore eventually entered through a sliding-glass door accessible only by the roof, court records say.

Inside, Kilgore raised his knife and pushed Moudgil’s father, according to court documents. Pooja Moudgil, Preet’s wife, said her father-in-law was able to avoid getting stabbed and ran out of the house. When Kilgore began the disturbance, her mother-in-law was putting the Moudgils’ 3-year-old to bed. She fled the home with her grandson when Kilgore broke in, Pooja Moudgil said.

After Kilgore left the residence, a friend called to the scene by Pooja Moudgil took Kilgore to the ground and took his knife, police said

Preet Moudgil, 35, owns Whitty’s Mini Market in Kettle Falls and became a U.S. citizen after coming to the United States in 2003, he said. His family is Sikh and Hindu.

“All he saw was a brown man,” Moudgil said.

Moudgil said he had never before experienced the kind of hate he did Saturday night.

“This community is very small. Everybody knows everybody,” Moudgil said. “I’ve never heard anything, anything like that.”

Kilgore faces two counts of second-degree assault, one count of burglary and one count of malicious mischief.