A gunman in Brockton, Mass. murdered two Cape Verdeans and wounded another because they were “nonwhite,” according to a local newspaper.

If that’s true, that would bring to five the number of immigrants killed in suspected hate crimes in the northeast in recent months.

In November, an Ecuadorean immigrant was beaten and stabbed to death by a group of teenagers in Long Island who had gone in search of “a Mexican” to beat up. At his attackers’ trial, prosecutors said some of the youths had been targeting Hispanics for months and conducted a rash of beatings.

About a month later, another Ecuadorean immigrant was brutally beaten in Brooklyn, and later died from his injuries. Before assaulting him, the attackers had shouted anti-Hispanic and anti-gay slurs. The victim was walking home, arm-in-arm with his brother.

In July, a Mexican immigrant was beaten to death by a group of youths in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania who shouted ethnic slurs, according to reports.

Via Long Island Wins blog

Related NAM stories:

Who is to Blame for Marcelo Lucero’s Murder?

Forbidden Love in Shenandoah, PA: Behind Beating Deaths of Immigrants