Essex County prosecutors told the Record the incident took place April 21, beginning at a Carvel ice cream shop. As the woman and her 16-year-old son waited for their order, Morrison began shouting slurs at them and threatening them.
"You're a terrorist," Morrison told the woman, according to the Record. "I'm going to kill you."
Morrison also told the woman to “go back to (her) country,” authorities said.
After leaving the business, Morrison followed the woman in his SUV and rammed the vehicle twice into the driver's side of her car, prosecutors told the Record. He tried to ram her vehicle a third time as she stopped at a stop sign.
Morrison left the scene but Nutley police officers picked him up that night at his home. He was booked into the jail early April 22.
The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement Tuesday welcoming the charges against Morrison. CAIR leaders praised the quick response by police and prosecutors.
"Horrific acts of violence like this remind us of the rise in Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry in our nation, and the importance of condemning hatred whenever and wherever we see it," the statement said. "Tolerating this type of evil will only lead to more violence against minority communities."
“It is the responsibility of government officials and law enforcement to proactively speak out against bigotry, letting the people of New Jersey know that Islamophobia is not welcomed in our state.”
Katherine Carter, an Essex County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman, told the Record that Morrison was in court May 1 for a hearing, at which time he was ordered to undergo a mental evaluation.
"The defendant began shouting that he does not recognize the jurisdiction of the court, so the judge decided to end the proceedings until the defendant undergoes a competency evaluation," Carter told a reporter in an email.
The incident involving Morrison took place on the same day that Amani al-Khatahtbeh, who made history April 4 when she became the first Muslim woman to run for Congress in New Jersey, received death threats aimed at her family, CAIR New Jersey reported. The threat reportedly came in shortly after she hosted a virtual town hall on Instagram.
Al-Khatahtbeh posted audio of the call on her Twitter feed. In the recording, the caller called al-Khatahtbeh a terrorist and used racial slurs.
"Your parents live at (address). I will (expletive) kill them and ... I will torture them and feed them bacon and (expletive) pork," the caller said. "As soon as you get off the phone, I'll (expletive) go to his house."
Listen to the audio below. Warning: It contains graphic language.
TW
— AMANI is running for Congress (NJ-6) (@AMANI2020) April 22, 2020
Last night, I received this chilling phone call. A death threat.
This isn’t my first death threat and I hesitated to share it, but it’s necessary to see the common experience of Muslims & minorities when hate is normalized by political leaders.
This is what it feels like. pic.twitter.com/Q87GLlv53w
Al-Khatahtbeh blamed the current political landscape for the encouragement of hate.
"This isn't my first death threat and I hesitated to share it, but it's necessary to see the common experience of Muslims & minorities when hate is normalized by political leaders," she tweeted. "This is what it feels like."
CAIR New Jersey called on the FBI to investigate the death threat.
The U.S. has seen a spike in reported hate crimes in the years since President Trump took office. According to the Record, New Jersey recorded 561 hate crimes last year.
It was the state's third consecutive annual increase, according to the FBI.
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