Police on Monday were searching for an arsonist suspected of starting a fire at a Southern California mosque and leaving graffiti referencing the recent deadly attacks at two mosques in New Zealand.
Nobody was hurt, and members of the Islamic Center of Escondido (also known as Dar Ul Arqam Mosque) managed to put out the small blaze using a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived, officials said. The fire, which began around 3:15 a.m. on Sunday, left minor damage to the mosqueâs outside facade.
The incident was being investigated as arson and a possible hate crime, said police in the city about 30 miles north of downtown San Diego. Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting with the investigation.
Graffiti was found in the parking lot referencing the shootings this month that killed 50 people at mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, police Lt. Chris Lick said. He did not elaborate about what it said, but noted an accelerant was used to set the fire â though he couldn’t say which kind, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
No suspects have been identified, Lick said, and uniformed officers were providing additional patrols in the area. Lick didnât respond to a KQED email and phone call seeking an update on the investigation.
Dustin Craun, head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in San Diego, said people were participating in a spiritual retreat in the mosque on the night of the fire, so they were present when it started.
The Escondido mosque, which formed four years ago, serves several hundred people in the city of about 143,000 residents, said member Yusef Miller. He told KNSD TV that worshippers are undeterred: “We won’t stop gathering.”
“When you attack any sanctuary, it is an attack against all of us,” he said at an interfaith prayer vigil on Sunday night at the mosque. It’s an attack against our humanity.”
Craun told KQED that some 250 people attended the vigil. âThey decided to stay in the mosque. Itâs still functioningâ despite the smell of gasoline, he said.
“It is disturbing enough that some sick individual would attempt to burn a house of worship to the ground, but referencing the slayings in New Zealand is beyond the pale,” he said separately in a statement. “While the majority of humanity has responded to the tragedy to draw closer to one another and refute hatred, a violent and hate-filled minority seeks further divisions.”
KQED News’ Miranda Leitsinger, City News Service and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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