Two Marion men face hate-crime charges after a weekend attack on migrant workers, Flathead County prosecutors said.
The migrants are of Asian descent, while those arrested are white.
Daniel J. Devine, 25, and Edwards L. Hubbs, 26, were arrested Saturday night on suspicion of malicious intimidation or harassment relating to civil or human rights. Charges were expected to be filed Monday.
Deputies said two men brandished a baseball bat and a tire iron, used racial slurs and threatened migrant mushroom pickers at a Marion convenience store. One of the workers took a gun from his vehicle, fired two shots in the air and the parties went their separate ways.
About two hours later, deputies say Devine, Hubbs and several other men attacked migrant workers at a campground, reportedly hurling racial slurs and beer bottles at the migrants.
“There were allegedly shots fired by both parties and both scenes,” Sheriff Mike Meehan said.
Others at the campground told deputies the migrants did not provoke the attackers. One white man had a rifle and fired five or six shots in the air.
One man was arrested at a bar and the other at his house. Meehan said the investigation continues and he’s not sure if there will be more arrests.
“I really do feel it was an isolated incident,” Meehan said. “The mushroom pickers have been in the area for some time and we haven’t had a lot of problems. I don’t think it’s any type of organized white supremacist (group) or anything like that.”