Fayette County authorities are seeking the public’s help in finding out who shot into windows at a Muslim house of prayer early Tuesday.
Sheriff Barry Babb said an alarm was triggered around 2 a.m. at the H.H. Prince Aga Khan Shia Ismaili Jamatkhana on Flatt Creek Trail in Fayetteville. When deputies arrived, they found four windows had been damaged by bullets. Babb said detectives believe the force of bullets flying into the building triggered the alarm.
Babb said detectives have not determined whether the incident is a hate crime.
“I can’t determine the motive, but we will treat it as being as serious as that [a hate crime],” the sheriff told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Detectives said no one was inside the building at the time of the incident and there was no forced entry. The privately held house of prayer, which the sheriff said is not a mosque, has been at the location for five years. Information on the owners was not immediately available.
“This is the first incident we’ve ever had there,” Babb said. He also said there were no other reports of similar gunshot damage to other area buildings.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office at 770-461-6353.
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