Fairfax County police believe young people consumed alcohol and then extensively vandalized the outside of an under-construction mosque this past weekend, causing as much as $80,000 worth of damage.
Around 8:40 a.m. on Monday, officers responded to the construction site of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Mosque, located at 4555 Ahmadiyya Drive in Chantilly. They found major damage to the mosque’s exterior but no sign that it had been entered.
Police said they also found several discarded alcohol containers at the site.
There is no evidence so far to suggest that the incident is a hate crime, according to police spokesman Officer Bud Walker.
The incident is being investigated as a destruction of property incident, but police are considering all options, he added.
Usman Ghumman, general secretary for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s local chapter, said that construction was being done at the site through Sunday afternoon. But when he arrived on-site Monday morning, all the windows and the door windows had been smashed in. It looked like rocks and masonry stones had been thrown through the windows, which were custom-designed and specially manufactured.
“It’s a big loss for us,” Ghumman told The Washington Examiner.
Stucco-like walls were also damaged, and disfigured spots will have to be completely redone, Ghumman said, adding that the builder has estimated the damage at $60,000 to $80,000. Nothing was stolen.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is asking the FBI and local law enforcement to investigate whether the destruction was a hate crime.
“Any time a house of worship is targeted in this manner, law enforcement authorities must consider a possible bias motive,” CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said in a news release.
Before the incident, the aim was for the mosque to be finished by the end of February, but the damage will probably set the completion back by an additional three-to-four weeks, Ghumman said.
Anyone with information about the incident can contact Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS, fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or by texting TIP187 plus the message to 274637. They can also contact Fairfax County police at 703-691-2131.
