ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – The man who recorded a viral video spoke out after reportedly shooting the video in a Rochester park involving racial slurs against a child.

As of Thursday, Rochester police are actively looking into the video shot by Sharmake Omar, which appears to show a woman holding a small child, while making racial slurs in reference to another child at the playground. The woman claimed the child had taken something that belonged to her child.

On Apr. 28 at Roy Sutherland Park, Omar said he noticed a woman yelling racial slurs at a 5-year-old African American special needs boy, and he felt it was only right to defend the child, record the incident on his phone, and post it on social media.

“If it was my child, I would want somebody else to stand up for him,” Omar said.

With a child of his own on the spectrum, Omar said he felt he did what he thought was right.

“If nobody else is going to do it, I’m going to have to do it,” he said. “I don’t have to ask permission for anybody.”

After he began recording the incident, Omar said the woman’s reaction surprised him.

“I thought she was going to deny it and walk away when there was a video, and she saw that I was recording. She doubled down and even tripled down now,” Omar said.

The woman, who has identified herself as Shiloh Hendrix, has crowdfunded more than $430,000 as of Friday night with a goal of $1 million, to protect her family after she said her personal information was released. Hendrix asked for “help to assist in protecting my family. I fear that we must relocate.”

“I don’t know what to say. It’s mind-boggling. I don’t know. I thought she was going to get punished for this, but apparently not. She’s getting rewarded,” Omar said.

Meanwhile, the Rochester branch of the NAACP has shown its support for the child affected by also crowdfunding more than $150,000 in donations by Friday night with a goal of $250,000. Omar said he can’t leave his residence, and he and his family have received death threats.

“He’s been threatened, and the rest of the kids also have a death threat against them,” Omar said.

To the 15,000 supporters who have donated to Hendrix’s fundraiser, Omar said this.

“Living with hate, it’s very stressful and it shortens your life. Being happy and welcoming is the better way. Change yourselves,” Omar said.

A point that has made rounds on social media in the discussion of this incident is Omar’s legal history. In 2022, Omar was charged with two sexual assault charges, however, both have been dismissed.

KTTC has made ongoing efforts to contact Hendrix to report on her side of the story.

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