Police seek suspect in MATC assault linked to Syrian politics

Police are seeking a man who assaulted a woman after the two disagreed about the president of Syria during a classroom discussion at Milwaukee Area Technical College.

According to the police log, the 24-year-old victim stated that back in February a male student she didn't know came up to her in the hallway outside a classroom and asked her if she was for or against the Syrian government. The victim stated she did not answer the man and kept on walking.

On April 2 the woman stated she noticed the suspect in the hallway and tried to go out another exit to the parking lot. As she was walking the suspect grabbed her arm, and said to her in Arabic, "People like you should die. You don't know what good the president did for Syria."

The suspect is described as a white male in his mid-20s, approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 200 pounds, with black hair in a ponytail, a full black beard and diagonal lines shaved through both eyebrows. He was last seen wearing a black sleeveless shirt and blue jeans. The suspect also has a tattoo of the Syrian flag on his right arm and a tattoo of the face of the Syrian president on his left arm.

MATC is reviewing video surveillance and police are investigating.