Islamic center firebombed
No injuries in suspected arson incidents at multiple locations
NEW YORK – A police security tower rose into the sky Monday, keeping watch over a globally prominent Islamic cultural center that was firebombed amid a handful of attacks being investigated as possibly linked bias crimes.
Police, who had made no arrests, released a sketch of a suspect and a videotape from a surveillance camera at a private house that is used as a Hindu house of worship and was one of the targets. The video shows a car pulling up Sunday night. Someone suddenly appears and hurls a lit object that strikes the house and explodes into flames.
Earlier Sunday evening, the entrance to the Imam Al-Khoei Foundation also was struck by two Molotov cocktails.
“But we are not afraid,” said the center’s assistant imam, Maan Al-Sahlani.
Besides the private house and the Islamic center, the other targets in the suspected arson attacks Sunday night were a corner store and another house. No one was injured in any of the attacks.
Al-Sahlani met on Monday afternoon with a dozen other clerics from the city’s Muslim community. A news conference was planned for today, the imam said.
In releasing the security videotape of the bombed home, police said they were offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.