A black man accused of beating a passerby with a bat in an apparently random attack in Rialto, leaving the victim with life-threatening injuries that he was not expected to survive, has been charged with attempted murder allegedly committed as a hate crime

Jeremiah Ajani Bell, 22, has been arrested after a daylight assault on 54-year-old Armando Barron, who was walking down the street when he was attacked. Bell has been charged with attempted, willful, deliberate and premeditated murder, according to a criminal complaint filed by the DA’s office. The complaint indicated that the crime was committed in violation of one of California’s criminal hate crime statutes that allow for sentencing enhancements for bias-motivated felonies. “It appears he was targeting anybody who wasn’t black,” Rialto police Detective Sgt. Paul Stella said.