St. Paul mosque vandalism is 5th attack in Minnesota this year
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Police are investigating after someone smashed the door of a St. Paul mosque early Friday.
Surveillance video shows a person with a blue umbrella walking up to Masjid As-Sunnah Islamic Center near Ruth St. and Interstate 94 just after 7 a.m. The person drops the umbrella, then repeatedly heaves a rock or chunk of concrete at the glass door.
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said this was the fifth time this year that someone has vandalized a Minnesota mosque.
Hussein said the suspect bypassed neighboring buildings and appears to have targeted the mosque specifically.
“The video surveillance shows somebody who's angry with the Muslim community and this mosque and literally just wanted to destroy the front door and send a signal,” Hussein said. “That's how the behavior looked. We obviously still don't know; [once] this person is caught we can learn more.”
In a separate case, a federal grand jury last week indicted a Plymouth man on charges of arson and hate crimes following fires at two Minneapolis mosques.
The suspect in those incidents has a history of severe mental illness and has been jailed since April 30.
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