On Thursday, police in Peoria, Ariz. charged 27-year-old Michael Paul Adams with the first-degree, premeditated murder of 17-year-old Elijah Al-Amin. According to the Arizona Republic’s review of court documents, Adams allegedly slit the boy’s throat and stabbed him with a pocketknife at a Peoria Circle K gas station.
Superior court records say Adams told investigators that he felt threatened by the hip-hop music the teen was playing—not the teenager himself—explaining that people who play rap music are a threat to him and his community.