A memorial Washingtonians set up at the Dupont Circle roundabout for a Muslim teenager who was killed by an illegal immigrant last week was set on fire Wednesday, local fire officials reported Wednesday afternoon.
Mourners had set up a display at the center of the NW D.C. neighborhood’s fountain to honor 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen, who investigators believe was murdered by 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torris early Sunday.
D.C. Fire responded to the scene around 8:30 a.m. and put the flames out. Officials are now looking into the cause of the fire, according to Fox-5.
Hassanen had been out in Loudoun, Va., around 3 a.m. Sunday with a group of 15 friends who were on their way to attend a late night Ramadan service at a mosque.
The group had been walking and biking to All Dulles Area Muslim Society when they encountered Torres. He began arguing with one of the group members then randomly chased down Hassanen.
He beat her with a baseball bat he had had in his vehicle, dragged her into his car and took her to a second location where the beating continued. First responders found her body in a pond.
Police have said the incident is not a hate crime.
