Woman Smashes Mosque Windows Near Sacramento, California
A woman hung uncooked bacon on the handle of the door at the mosque in Davis, near Sacramento.
She was also caught on CCTV smashing six windows and destroying two bicycles at the Islamic Center of Davis.
The footage, captured on Sunday, shows the suspect, whose face is covered by a hat, walk towards the door before placing the bacon on the mosque’s door handles at around 4am.
In a statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Sacramento Valley chapter said: "Bigots often use pigs or pork to offend Muslim sensibilities.”
The woman can then be seen using an unknown device to smash six window panes on the outside the building and destroy two bicycles, police said, the Express reported.
The council has since offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. The chapter’s executive director Basim Elkarra is also urging the FBI to investigate the incident.
He said: "We ask state late enforcement authorities and the FBI to investigate the apparent bias motive for this vandalism and to bring the perpetrator to justice.
"The swift apprehension and punishment of those responsible for this act of religious intimidation will send the message that the growing Islamophobia we are witnessing in our nation will not be tolerated or ignored.”
The suspect is described as a white woman, aged between 25 and 35, medium high and weighing around 170 pounds, according to police.
Davis Police Department have called the attack a hate crime, but despite mosque leaders cancelling Sunday class, they say they are not angry.
Imam Ammar Shahin said: "If I said I was not scared, then that’s not true, we are all scared.
"We don’t know what the motivation behind the person doing such an act.
"Respond to the crime with crime or hate with hate, we don’t do that, our religion is very peaceful.”
The mosque has been an ongoing target of hate crime, in December threatening letters were sent to the religious building.
Leaders claim that the incidents have led to the community coming together and to make them feel supported, with emails and flowers left to show the followers of the Islamic Center they are not alone.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the US Department of Justice hate crime statistics suggests anti-Muslim crimes increased by 9.5 per cent between 2010 and 2015.
