Two Men Arrested After Shouting Racial Slurs, Shooting at Biracial Teen and His Sister,12

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Photo credit Lake County Police Dept.

(KNX 1070) -- Two Florida men have been arrested after shooting at and assaulting a biracial teen and his 12-year-old sister. 

According to WFTV in Orlando, James Reidnauer, 30, and Brent Van Besien, 33, were arrested on hate crime charges after confronting the siblings on their way home from a convenience where they were buying candy. 

Deputies told the Orland Sentinel that Van Besien fired at least two shots at the children, one near the girl’s foot, and another one in the air. Then the two began shouting racial slurs at the children. 

The teen, 16, and his sister, 12,  ran home after the incident, and told their mother, who immiediatly called 911. 

This Lake County Mom says her two biracial kids, were confronted by two armed suspects. She says the suspects yelled racial slurs and even fired shots. pic.twitter.com/VfpOQQDYmo

— Myrt Price (@MPriceWFTV) March 27, 2019

Lake County sheriff's deputies later found the two men who said they saw two "meth heads," in their 20s or 30s, who they believed were attempting to break into houses. The men denied they yelled racial slurs, although Reidnauer admitted to firing a "warning shot." 

Deputies found one casing from a handgun but were unable to find a shotgun. 

Reidnauer and Van Besien were booked into the Lake County Jail.

A 2017 Lake County booking photo, uncovered by Raw Story, shows Van Besien's chest covered in a tattoo that appears to be an "Iron Cross," a German military symbol associated with Nazi Germany. 

Lake County Police Dept.

“After World War II, the medal was discontinued but neo-Nazis and other white supremacists subsequently adopted it as a hate symbol and it has been a commonly-used hate symbol ever since,” according to the Anti Defamation League, as reported by Raw Story.