Police are investigating after a vandal targeted the Islamic Center of Fort Collins in Colorado over the weekend, breaking glass and throwing a Bible into the center’s prayer room.
The attack drew condemnation from police, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and hundreds of Fort Collins residents, who took to the streets Sunday in support of the religious center.
“This incident has a very real impact on our Muslim friends and neighbors,” Fort Collins police Chief John Hutto said in a statement. “The criminal act against their sacred space is unacceptable.”
Police on Monday released images of the vandal, described as a man in his late teens or early 20s. He overturned benches, broke windows and threw a Bible into the center around 4 a.m. Sunday.
Surveillance footage released by police appeared to show the man trying to get inside the building. The Islamic Center said in a Facebook post that the man had a screwdriver with him.
"He tried to break in using a screwdriver, kicking at the door," the center's president, Tawfik Aboellail, told The Denver Post. "Finally he broke two back doors with five-pound rocks. … Thank God no one was here."
Police said they are investigating the case as a “bias-motivated crime.” Under Colorado law, such a crime is committed when, among other things, a person damages another person’s property based on the other person’s “actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation.”
“The Bible being thrown into the prayer hall is a message in itself,” Aboellail told the Post. “We are peaceful people. We love our Christian and Jewish brothers. We don’t have any problems with anyone.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called for the case to be designated a hate crime in a statement released Sunday. The group said it has tracked 34 other similar cases this year targeting mosques in more than 11 states.
Police continued to investigate Monday.
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