A leading Jewish group that combats bigotry is condemning a fire set at a Florida mosque that authorities are investigating as a possible hate crime.
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Security video showed an individual approaching the building from the east, he said.
“Shortly after the individual approached the building, an immediate and very large flash was observed in the video footage”, St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Maj.
He told reporters his department has asked the FBI and BATF to assist in the investigation, and said technicians were now working on cleaning up the surveillance video, so it could be released to the public.
Mateen, who attended the Islamic Center, was killed as SWAT team members breached the building to rescue victims trapped inside.
After Mateen carried out one of the worst mass shootings in USA history, the center cooperated with the FBI and local police in their investigations, condemned Mateen, and held a blood drive to help the victims.
“Evidence has revealed that this fire was set intentionally”, Major David Thompson of the St Lucie Sheriff’s Office told reporters at a press conference.
Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Florida spokesman Wilfredo Amr Ruiz said the arsonist was “terrorising our community because we don’t know where he is at and we don’t know what he is capable of doing”.
No injuries were reported, but it’s unclear how much damage was done.
The fire was started on the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the start of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.
At approximately 12:31 a.m., 9-1-1 received a call that the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce was on fire.
Mateen, who lived in Fort Pierce, killed 49 people at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub in June and was known to worship at the mosque.
Thompson said he had also requested assistance from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI.
Thompson said investigators were still seeking a motive and were considering a connection with the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Sunday. “Not only for the Islamic Center, but for our community”.
“This is a frightful tragedy”, Thompson told ABC News, “not only for the Islamic Center, but also for our community”.
A few weeks after the shooting, a man was brutally beaten as he left the Fort Pierce mosque.
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Ever since the attack at Pulse nightclub, which also wounded 53 people, the Orlando, Fla., area has been coming to terms with the events of that June night.
