An awful story out of the peaceful Pacific Northwest tonight:

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department is searching for five people who allegedly attacked a uniformed National Guardsmen walking along 138th Street in Parkland Tuesday afternoon.

The soldier was walking to a convenience store when a sport utility vehicle pulled up alongside him and the driver asked if he was in the military and if he had been in any action.

The driver then got out of the vehicle, displayed a gun and shouted insults at the victim. Four other suspects exited the vehicle and knocked the soldier down, punching and kicking him.

“And during the assault the suspects called him a baby killer. At that point they got into the car and drove off and left him on the side of the road,” Detective Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

If hate crimes law were worth anything, this would be the dictionary definition of one.

Detective Troyer makes it sound like violence against our troops is some rare, new thing:

“This is something new for us, we have not had military people assaulted because they were in the military or somebody’s opposition to a war or whatever,” Troyer said.

The guy has not been paying attention:

Flashbacks:

Activist Sentenced to 5 Years for Molotov Attack on Army Recruitment Station
The Seattle Soldier Beatings
Caught on tape: Soldiers beaten in Seattle
We support our troops…when they shoot their officers
Bloody, anti-war liberals
Seattle hates America