‘Do I need to hang you?’ Man in KKK-style robe made racist death threat, SLO couple says

Hours before he was arrested for being drunk in public while wearing a Klu Klux Klan-style outfit, a mentally ill San Luis Obispo man allegedly made sexist and racist comments and threatened to kill a man who he perceived as Muslim.

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“Do I need to hang you?” Kristoffer Hans Pfister said to the man while fashioning a noose out of his dog’s leash.

The man, who was not Muslim, only realized just how dangerous the situation really was after hearing about the outfit Pfister was wearing when he was arrested.

“I just had a death threat,” he said. “Had that been prior knowledge,” he said of the KKK-style robe, “for sure, I’m fearful for my life.”

The man and his wife spoke with The Tribune on the condition of anonymity to protect their identities.

The 55-year-old Pfister, who has a history of mental illness, was arrested on the night of Sept. 13 near the Creekside Mobile Home Park at 3960 South Higuera St., across from the Tank Farm Road intersection and Trader Joe’s.

Police said he was wearing a “Ku Klux Klan-style uniform” — complete with pointy hat — and drinking from a bottle of alcohol. He was released from custody after a short stay at the San Luis Obispo County Jail.

Another anonymous source familiar with Pfister told The Tribune the man struggles with severe diagnosed bipolar disorder.

“This is a man with a documented personality disorder,” the source said. “I’m not condoning the behavior at all, and we’re working on it, but I think that’s a pretty clear part of this.”

The incident was categorized as a “non-criminal hate expression” rather than a hate crime, but the couple who had interacted with Pfister earlier that day felt a stronger response was warranted.

“I believe he was out looking for my husband,” the woman said of Pfister.

Police were called on man multiple times hours before his arrest, witnesses say

On the day of his arrest, Pfister was reported to the police four times, San Luis Obispo Police Department spokesperson Christine Wallace told The Tribune.

The first call came after a “verbal confrontation” between Pfister and a group of people at the mobile home park’s community pool, the SLO Police Department said in a news release.

The woman who got into the “confrontation” with Pfister spoke to The Tribune also on the condition of anonymity for her own safety. She described the interaction as a “very sexist,” “inappropriate” and unprovoked aggression by Pfister.

Around 3 p.m., the woman was hanging out by the pool with her family, including her father, sister and young nephew, when an already angry Pfister entered the pool area demanding that they leave without reason, she said.

After a brief and heated interaction, the woman asked Pfister, “What is your problem?”

“You’re out here just flaunting your fertility at me,” Pfister said to her.

The woman was taken aback and unsure what to make of the strange and offensive comment. She believed it referred to her being there in a “family situation.”

Regardless, the “very sexist” comment made her uncomfortable, and Pfister’s behavior was escalating, so she and her family called the police, she said.

“Coming from a female, that’s just never OK to say to anybody,” she said. “I got heated.”

Pfister left the area before police arrived, and she did not see him for several more hours.

Later in the day, around 5:30 p.m., she was on a walk with her dad when the two saw Pfister walking his dog from a distance. To avoid another interaction, they tried to hide behind a bush, but to no avail, she said.

“You’re the b—h that called the police on me,” Pfister said when he saw the woman and her father, she said.

Another couple was out walking at the same time — the man who was shortly after threatened and his wife.

The man’s wife, who was a psychiatric nurse at the Atascadero State Hospital for seven years, said she immediately recognized Pfister’s tense and focused demeanor as a mental health crisis — and a dangerous one, at that.

In an effort to protect the other woman and her father, who were clearly trying to hide, the husband physically blocked Pfister’s path.

Angrily, Pfister began to fixate on the husband’s beard, which he found “very odd.”

“Do you ever shave your beard?” Pfister asked. “Guess we got the Muslim Brotherhood in the park now.”

Pfister also said something under his breath about those “damn Muslims,” the man said.

“Do I need to hang you? Do I need to hang you?” Pfister said while fashioning a noose out of his dog’s leash.

After the man told Pfister he was being offensive, he seemed to back off a bit, the man said.

“I’m sorry, but I’m a Christian and I don’t believe in any of that Islamic nonsense,” Pfister said.

The man told The Tribune he is not Muslim.

The police eventually arrived after Pfister had left the area. The woman who worked as a psychiatric nurse said the first thing she requested was the mental health crisis team, though it was not called to the scene, Wallace said.

Police spoke to both the husband and his wife, but ultimately their information was not taken down and no arrest was made at the time — likely because the man did not immediately realize the full risk of the situation.

When initially speaking to the police, the man told officers that even though he received a verbal threat, he did not feel physically threatened.

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“It wasn’t until I got home and adrenaline had kind of worn off that I was like, I just had a death threat,” the man said.

Likely for that reason, police did not pursue charges or initially investigate the incident further, Wallace said.

“That does change how things are investigated,” as well as the charges that can be brought against a suspect, Wallace said of the man not feeling physically at risk.

The couple has since been interviewed by a SLO Police Department detective, and a secondary investigation has been opened, both the couple and Wallace confirmed.

Now, the couple is looking into the legal process to secure a restraining order, but they found doing so may actually reveal their address to Pfister, defeating the point, in their eyes.

Instead, they’ve added several security cameras to their home and are keeping their blinds closed.

“We all haven’t been able to relax,” the man’s wife said. “There’s been, I would say, no normalcy in being home, and I kind of feel like your home should be where you feel the most comfortable and the most relaxed, and that unfortunately has been very, very impacted for me.”

Several hours later, police began receiving reports of Pfister walking around through the mobile home park, the Trader Joe’s parking lot and near the intersection of Tank Farm Road and Higuera Street wearing a KKK-style robe.

He was arrested around 10 p.m. and booked in the San Luis Obispo County Jail for a brief stay.

Man who allegedly made racist threats has criminal record and history of mental health

Pfister has a documented history of severe mental illness, an anonymous source close to the situation told The Tribune.

The source had previously learned from Pfister’s family that he has been diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and has been in and out of treatment through SLO County behavioral health resources and programs.

“He does have some criminal history along those lines,” the source said.

The source was aware there were other incidents in the 24-hour period preceding Pfister’s arrest.

“It was pretty clear he was having a psychotic break or a meltdown,” the source said.

When police first received calls regarding Pfister, officers were unable to locate him and therefore could not complete a mental health assessment, Wallace said.

When he was located later that evening near Trader Joe’s, he did not meet the criteria to be placed on a mental health hold and the Police Department’s crisis action team was not called, Wallace said. The team attempted to reach Pfister the following week, but was unsuccessful, she said.

Pfister’s criminal record documents similar and repeated behavior over the last decade, according to court records.

In 2014, he was convicted of three misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence, hit-and-run causing property damage and battery on a law enforcement officer. He pleaded no contest to those charges — which operates the same as a guilty plea without admitting fault — and three other counts of vandalism and resisting arrest were dismissed.

Pfister again pleaded no contest to one count of alcohol-related reckless driving in 2018, and four other similar misdemeanor charges were stricken or dismissed.

In 2019, he pleaded no contest to resisting a law enforcement officer, and six other charges including making threats to commit a crime of violence and public intoxication were dismissed.

Pfister most recently pleaded no contest to two counts of misdemeanor battery in March 2025. One disorderly conduct charge was dismissed, and he was ordered to pay a fine to the victims.

Community responds to hate incident

After Pfister was spotted wearing the KKK-style robe, several community organizations, student groups, local representatives and the San Luis Obispo city government responded with statements condemning acts of racism.

Cal Poly’s Black Student Union released a statement on Instagram following Pfister’s arrest.

“Members of the KKK aim to suppress the Black voter, silence Black people and torment our communities,” the student group said.

“One would assume that the Klan has no space in San Luis Obispo, but racism is foundational to the city, county and region,” the BSU statement said. “The California Mission system enslaved and abused Indigenous people by forcing conversions to Catholicism and erasing their culture. How can we expect the county to address anti-Black racism while it continues to celebrate its mission history on its seal?”

“We ask what evidence is needed to substantiate a hate crime,” the group said. “Is the well documented history of Black subjugation at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan not enough?”

Over the weekend, University President Jeffrey Armstrong posted a response on X.

“The individual wearing KKK attire engaged in behavior that was vile and hateful,” Armstrong said. “This is not acceptable on or off campus. This is the opposite of Love, Empathy and Respect!”

The SLO County Diversity Coalition, founded in 2011 after a cross was burned outside the home of Black family in Arroyo Grande, also released a statement.

“The fear this incident creates is rooted in real history, including here,” the coalition said, referring to a Klu Klux Klan rally held on Monterey Street and cross burning at a nearby ranch in 1925.

“The ideas represented by that robe have not disappeared,” the coalition said. “The belief that some people are more deserving of power, safety, freedom or belonging than others is still present, as is the dangerous myth that our own safety, dignity or liberation must come at the expense of someone else’s.”

R.A.C.E. Matters released a statement on Instagram, as did the City of SLO.

Assemblymember Dawn Addis, D-Morro Bay, gave a statement on the incident to The Tribune.

“The recent incident of someone dressed in KKK garb is abhorrent and cannot be tolerated,” Addis said. “Hate-fueled organizations like this have a long and traumatizing history of terrorizing communities and committing violence. We cannot ignore this brazen disregard for that harm.”

This story was originally published September 22, 2026 at 2:59 PM with the headline “‘Do I need to hang you?’ Man in KKK-style robe made racist death threat, SLO couple says.”

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