Sigh. What is wrong with people?
A South Carolina man has been arrested for setting fire to a memorial for slain Virginia teen Nabra Hassanen.
Washington D.C. residents gathered at the capital's Dupont Circle on Tuesday night to grieve the 17-year-old, who was walking back to her mosque in Fairfax County when she was attacked and possibly sexually assaulted by a road rage driver.
D.C. police confirmed to the Daily News that officers were called Wednesday morning after fire was set to the memorial at a fountain.
A spokeswoman said that Jonathan Solomon, a 24-year-old from South Carolina, had been arrested just after 10 a.m., and added that “at this time, the incident does not appear to be motivated by bias.”
He was arrested on suspicion of kindling a bonfire.
Sgt. Anna Rose of U.S. Parks Police, who is handling the investigation, said it is not known why Solomon was in D.C.
Nabra was walking back to the mosque for late night prayers with her friends when she was attacked early Sunday morning, and the fact that she was wearing traditional Muslim clothing made her family suspect that her death was a hate crime.
However, Fairfax County Police said Monday that Darwin Torres, a 22-year-old El Salvador native suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, appeared to be motivated by road rage rather than hatred towards the teen’s faith.
Torres allegedly argued with one of the boys with Nabra and chased the teens with a baseball bat before catching and assaulting his victim.
Muslim advocacy groups have said that authorities should continue to look into the possibility of bias.
Nabra’s body was also found in a pond in neighboring Loudon County, with authorities saying she was assaulted there a second time.
Police told WTTG on Tuesday that they are investigating whether she was sexually assaulted in one of the attacks.
A funeral for Nabra was planned for Wednesday afternoon at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society Center, the popular mosque where she and her friends were walking before the attack.
A LaunchGood page for Nabra's family had raised more than $314,000 as of early Wednesday afternoon.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, attended the funeral and said that Nabra's death has brought profound grief both to the local Muslim community and others around the country.
He said that he was not sure what to make of the Dupont Circle memorial fire, but added "the community is already on edge because of the tragic and brutal murder of our sister. This only adds to that tension no matter what the motive."
What's wrong with people? Everything.
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The Daily Sigh
RandomTitle is a tad bit misleading, I highly doubt I'll be posting daily in this. Nonetheless, I decided to stop filling my other books with news articles and such so I've created this one. In this book I'll be sharing articles, stories, and sometimes pi...
