Fire at Florida Mosque Attended by Pulse Gunman Investigated as Arson, Possible Hate Crime

The fire was set on the 15th anniversary of 9/11, and extinguished on the beginning of Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, also the three month anniversary of the Pulse Massacre.

A fire at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce in Florida is being investigated as arson, WBPF reports, and possibly as a hate crime.

The fire was set late Sunday, the 15th anniversary of 9/11, and extinguished on the beginning of Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, or the “Feast of Sacrifice,” the second of two major holidays celebrated worldwide. The day also marked the three-month anniversary of the Pulse Massacre.

“A fire at any place of worship is alarming, regardless of the circumstances,” the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office released in a statement via its Facebook page early Monday. “Video captured at the Fort Pierce Islamic Center shows an individual approached the east side of the building just moments before a flash is seen and the fire starts.”

The department has since released the surveillance video of the incident, along with the 911 calls which alerted their office of the fire, in an effort to apprehend the arsonist. The video reveals what the department describes as “a white or Hispanic male” arriving via motorcycle and carrying paper and a bottle of fluid. After the flash of light which presumably began the fire, the male runs from the mosque, “waving his [arms] immediately… possibly indicating a burn.” The video can be seen below:

The fire isn’t the first time that the mosque has made national headlines, perhaps making it a target. Omar Mateen, responsible for the Pulse Massacre that slaughtered 49 members of the LGBT community and injured 53 more, attended the mosque. The massacre, a hate crime, remains the worst terror attack since 9/11, and the deadliest mass shooting in modern history.

Wilfredo Amr Ruiz, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), has said that the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce has been harassed ever since. “First there were threatening voicemails. Then drivers would splash water on the parishioners leaving on Fridays, and then a member got beat up in the parking lot when he came to the mosque for early morning prayers,” he said. “And now the mosque has been set on fire.” (These incidents have been well-documented.)

Though Mateen’s attendance at the mosque may be partly to blame for its harassment, it was actually another attendee who initially reported Mateen to the FBI in 2006. “I had told the FBI about Omar because my community, and Muslims generally, have nothing to hide,” Mohammad A. Malik wrote for The Washington Post in June. “I love this country, like most Muslims I know.”

Despite this, an 80-page report titled “Confronting Fear” by the University of California, Berkeley’s Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project (IRDP) found that 78 incidents targeted mosques in 2015, the highest number since 2009 when the record-keeping began.

The report also found that anti-Islam bills have passed in ten states, and there are now 74 groups, up from 69 in 2013, which make up an “Islamophobia network.”

“Islamophobia has unfortunately moved from the fringes of American society to the mainstream,” CAIR’s introduction of the report reads. “The last two months of 2015 saw 34 incidents in which mosques were targeted by vandals who want to intimidate worshippers. This is more incidents than we usually record in an entire year.”

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office indicated that the St. Lucie County Fire District, the Florida State Fire Marshall’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI are all assisting in the investigation.

The Islamic Center of Fort Pierce has launched a fundraising campaign asking for “help [to] rebuild and take a stand against bigotry.”

 

Image via Facebook