Lightning rods tend to be the most prominent and visible.
You'd be wrong to say that the most hateful are attacked.
Naturally leaders are the most prominent and visible members of a group. In this case, the attacker wants to send a message that can be delivered loudly by a single person. protests are visible too but you'd have to organize a group.
You didn’t need to fix it. The most hated are the most hated because they are the most hateful. That’s a simple law of nature. It’s called "cause and effect".