A mosque where Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen worshipped was targeted in an arson attack, USA authorities in Florida said on Monday, without ruling out the possibility of a hate crime.
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Special agents for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms field office in Fort Pierce and the Miami Field Division Certified Fire Investigators are assisting the FBI, they announced in a statement Monday, adding that the arson is being treated as a hate crime.
No one was injured in the fire.
Omar Mateen, who was responsible for the mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse in June, occasionally visited the Islamic Center to pray with his family.
Sheriff’s deputies and St. Lucie County fire deputies responded to the 1100 block of West Midway Road for a fire around 12:30 a.m. Police say the building was unoccupied at that time.
But Thompson said investigators were not ready to consider it a hate crime despite the overwhelming evidence. The person approached and left on foot.
“I wouldn’t want to speculate whether or not this is related or unrelated”, he said on whether the fire may have been related to the anniversary of the September 11 terror attack.
The mosque had an Eid prayer scheduled for 9 a.m. on Monday morning. He noted that since the Orlando shooting, “a lot of people have been driving by hollering and yelling expletives at the church or mosque or whatever they call it”.
The Islamic Center of Fort Pierce came into the spotlight when its imam, Syed Shafeeq Rahman, admitted to the media that Omar Mateen had been one of its worshippers. He was carrying what appeared to be paper and bottle of liquid.
Additionally, the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Florida, along with its national chapter, will offer a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest & conviction of the mosque’s arsonist, according to Wilfredo Ruiz, a spokesman for the Florida Chapter. “But we are not confident to say that that is the case at this time”.
“America was founded on religious freedom”.
The Islamic community says it will fix and reopen the arson-damaged Florida mosque that was occasionally attended by Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen. Thompson said that his office has released the video and asked for the public’s help in identifying the arsonist.
“What we hope that analysis shows is what type of accelerant was used in the burning of the Islamic Center”, Thompson said Tuesday afternoon.
On July 2, a man was beaten outside the mosque. “Please keep us in your Du’as and prayers”. He decried what he called escalating violence directed at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce.
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Ruiz said those who worship at the Islamic center could temporarily worship at Muslim Friends of Florida, also in Fort Pierce, or officials may rent another facility.
