Warren mosque vandalized in possible hate crime, leaders say
Max Reinhart | The Detroit News
Leaders at a Warren mosque say their place of worship was vandalized over the weekend in a possible hate crime.
Steve Elturk, president of the Islamic Organization of North America (IONA), located on Ryan Road, said he’s unsure what motivated the vandal or vandals to come onto the property, damage walls, break windows, and spray-paint ambiguous messages on the floor and equipment for an ongoing expansion project. But he’s calling on Warren police to investigate it as a potential hate crime.
“In the back of my head, I’m saying, ‘Is it because of the problems in the Middle East? Is it because of some ignorant people listening to biased media?'” he said. “I have no idea what motivated those who did it.”
Warren police confirmed that detectives are investigating the incident, which took place sometime early Sunday.
The Michigan chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), has offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, who is also a regular prayer leader at IONA, said the vandals spray-painted the word “gay” on a Caterpillar machine that’s being used for a 10,000-square-foot addition to the facility. The word “love” was spray-painted on the floor.
“It’s odd,” Walid said. “It’s nothing overtly anti-Muslim … At the same time, this mosque has been vandalized before. Its leaders have been threatened.”
The mosque faced immense community pushback when it opened about 20 years ago, leaders said. However, Elturk said relations have been mostly positive since then.
“For years were fine, then all of a sudden this happens out of the blue,” he said.
The mosque usually has security cameras in place, Elturk said, but they had been removed from the expansion area to facilitate the ongoing construction work. He said they will be installed again in light of this event.
Leaders of the mosque said the damage will cost them a few thousand dollars, but they are more concerned about the potential hate-based aspect of the crime.
“At best, it’s a total disregard for the feelings of the whole Muslim community,” Walid said. “At worst, there was intentional anti-Muslim sentiment.”
