CALIFORNIA, March 26, 2019 - Seven Muslim worshipers gathered on Saturday night for an overnight spiritual retreat at the Islamic Center mosque in Escondido, about a week after dozens of Muslims were massacred thousands of miles away in New Zealand.
Shortly before dawn prayers on Sunday, someone noticed a fire outside the building, the police said. One person called 911. Someone rushed to put out the flames using a fire extinguisher. An outside wall was scorched but not badly damaged, and no one was injured. Still, harm was done: There was anti-Muslim graffiti referring to the New Zealand attack.
On Tuesday, an Escondido Police Department official, Lt. Chris Lick, said in a phone interview that the fire had been set with an accelerant. But there were no suspects, he said, and investigators were examining video surveillance “from anywhere we could get it.”
The department, which announced in a statement on Sunday that the fire was being investigated as arson and a hate crime, is working with the F.B.I., the San Diego Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on the case.
The suspected arson in Escondido, a city about 30 miles north of San Diego, targeted a place of worship for hundreds of Muslims in the area. It was one of a series of acts of vandalism and threats that have sprung up after the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15, in which 50 people were killed. A 28-year-old Australian man has been charged in the killings.
In the United States, many Muslims remain on edge. On Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations encouraged the nation’s mosques and community leaders to have Department of Homeland Security advisers evaluate their readiness for mass shootings and other emergencies. CAIR also held online security meetings with hundreds of mosques and said it planned to reissue a pamphlet that would help them increase safety measures.
Full news: The New York Times – 26 March 2019
https://nyti.ms/2CEzlCV
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