Police are investigating two possible hate crimes that occurred over the weekend in California. Someone used spray paint to deface the two mosques. The vandalism occurred just days after another mosque in the state was firebombed. In that case, a 23-year-old suspect was arrested.
At one of the mosques, the word “Jesus” was spray painted on a gate and a cross spray painted on a wall, at the other, someone wrote the words “Jesus is the way” (as the image from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Baitus-Salaam Mosque Mosque shows). A fake grenade was also found in one of the buildings. A member of the local Islamic community told The Sun, “As Muslims we don’t really find (the crosses) very offensive, but the act of vandalizing is disturbing.” The FBI released a statement saying,
We continuously work with our state and local partners to secure communities and to investigate and bring to justice those who would commit violent acts or make violent threats against others based on the victim’s Constitutionally-protected characteristics or beliefs, real or perceived.
