Asheville police charge man with ethnic intimidation after assault at library

ASHEVILLE - City police detectives charged a man with ethnic intimidation after an assault of three seminar attendees at the West Asheville Library June 29.

Michael Solomon Brocenos, 34, of Maryland, faces one charge of misdemeanor ethnic intimidation "specifically for his actions" at the library, according to a July 16 news release from the police department.

Detectives are asking for the public's help in locating Brocenos — who has not yet been arrested — and in identifying other people of interest in the alleged assault.

Brocenos is described as a 165-pound, 6 foot, 2 inch white male, according to the release.

This is the second criminal charge stemming from a fight that broke out in one of the library’s public meeting rooms during a seminar called “Strategic Lessons from the Palestinian Resistance,” which was part of the fifth annual Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair. Between 80 and 100 people were in attendance, according to police.

Police charged one other person, Taylor Danielle Zarkin, 35, of Alexander, with two counts of resisting a public officer for allegedly obstructing police investigations after the initial incident, Rice previously said. Zarkin has been released from the Buncombe County Detention Facility and has a court date of Oct. 10.

Previous reporting: City leaders respond to alleged West Asheville Library assaults; Police investigate

APD officers first responded to reports of a fight in progress around 2:57 p.m. June 29 at the library on Haywood Road, the Citizen Times previously reported. Police received three 911 calls during the incident, one coming from a librarian.

Tensions arose when an attendee, Monica Buckley, 48, was livestreaming the speech. This allegedly escalated to punching and kicking, as previously reported. In a video circulating on social media, an attendee calls attention to the livestream and another person responds, "They're Zionists. We've been trying to figure out how to deal with them."

Police continue to investigate the incident, partly using surveillance footage from the library to identify several people of interest. An APD incident report for the alleged assault lists three different crimes: simple assault, damage to personal property and resist, delay, obstruct an officer.

More: 911 calls reveal events at alleged W. Asheville Library assault; peace group speaks out

City leaders denounced violence in the community in the days following the alleged assault, with Mayor Esther Manheimer stating, “The members of the Asheville community deserve the right to enter any community spaces with a feeling of security. We will not tolerate violence, either against or carried out in our community."

Other groups, such as Jewish Voice for Peace in Asheville, pushed back on characterizations of the assault and bookfair events as antisemitic. They pointed out how some of the organizers of the anarchist bookfair and many attendees of the different events are Jewish.

Anyone with information regarding the incident or identification of the offenders can contact APD at 828-252-1110. Anonymous tips can be submitted using the TIP2APD smartphone application (search “Asheville PD” in the app store) or by texting TIP2APD to 847411.

Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Man faces ethnic intimidation charge after Asheville library assault