WARNING: Some viewers may find the video above to be distressing
An Ontario family has been shaken and disturbed by a bat-wielding man who attacked them and accused them of being terrorists in a mall parking lot.
The violence unfolded Thursday afternoon outside the Elgin Mall. The family says it was unprovoked.
The video shows a man emerging from a car and stomping toward the camera with a neon yellow baseball bat over his shoulder.
"You're under arrest," the man with the bat tells the cameraman. "You're a terrorist. Let's see what's in your pocket," he continues.
The man grows increasingly agitated and starts pointing at the family, screaming "terrorist!", "we got French terrorists!" and "ISIS, we have ISIS!!"
The man appears to swing the bat three times at the family as a woman shrieks. Police say the father of the family suffered a cracked rib and severe bruising.
The bat-wielding man is charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon. Police continue to investigate the incident as a racially-motivated crime.
The family tells our sister station CTV News they are Spanish-speaking and moved to Colombia close to 20 years ago. They say there were witnesses to the attack but no one intervened.
"There's some quite disturbing language by this individual," Sgt. Brian Carnegie told CTV Friday. "My understanding is that this family was minding their own business, talking amongst themselves and this individual took it upon himself to react in that manner so it's quite disturbing for this community.
With files from CTV News