IMO, I agree, this was all about race.
But legally, IMO, terror is probably the best course of action. Because with terrorist, you can go patriot act, or war on terror and really can lock him up forever for no reason and take your time with prosecuting. With racist, you could pull the society drove him to this, or that he has a disability, or some other reason that has worked before in the courts. All you need is 1 to believe this is a legitimate excuse, and 1 is too many.