Fire at Florida mosque ruled arson
Source: CNN
A small fire that damaged a mosque in suburban Tampa, Florida, has been ruled arson, Hillsborough County fire investigators said Friday.
The fire was reported about 2 a.m. Friday at the Islamic Society of New Tampa, fire department public information officer Corey Dierdorff said.
Firefighters arrived and quickly put out the fire at an entrance to the building, CNN affiliate WFTS reported. Nobody was injured in the blaze.
Authorities have not decided if the fire was a hate crime, but Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said at a news conference: "This is no different than the wave of anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish community centers and synagogue and bomb threats that have been called in all across the country, including in Tampa over the recent months."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/24/us/tampa-mosque-arson-florida/
There is also a video at the link.
juxtaposed
(2,778 posts)a. Redneck haven...
NoGoodNamesLeft
(2,056 posts)There are some surrounding areas that are less so, though. I am very familiar with the location of the mosque and the road it is located on is dark and not heavily traveled late at night. The mosque is right next to a church and the two places of worship are actually very friendly and host each other for special events from time to time. I don't think this was done by someone in the immediate area but rather someone in one of those less diverse neighboring areas.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Why would anyone think hate might be involved?
Bengus81
(6,936 posts)benld74
(9,911 posts)shenmue
(38,506 posts)Damn shame.
luvMIdog
(2,533 posts)but the current admin could care less
applegrove
(118,837 posts)TexasBushwhacker
(20,221 posts)Their mosque was totally gutted, but they raised over $1 Million on GoFundMe. The local Jewish community invited them to have services at their facilities for as long as they want.
"Also, Loeb added, sharing the space just made sense: We have probably 25 to 30 Jewish people in Victoria, and they probably have 100 Muslims. We got a lot of building for a small amount of Jews.
http://forward.com/news/361793/jews-hand-muslims-synagogue-keys-when-a-texas-mosque-burns-down/
BadgerMom
(2,771 posts)Any place for contributions?
NoGoodNamesLeft
(2,056 posts)Some of my family members have actually been to an open house at this mosque before. I'll try to find out something.
BadgerMom
(2,771 posts)NoGoodNamesLeft
(2,056 posts)This is the link to the mosque and they have a link to donate to help on the page. The church next door that I mentioned in an earlier post is letting the mosque hold services there until the mosque is back up and operational. They have a very close friendship.
BadgerMom
(2,771 posts)Thank you!
NoGoodNamesLeft
(2,056 posts)eom