Nabra Hassanen and her friends were on their way back to the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center in Sterling, Virginia, after eating breakfast at IHOP at about 3.30am local time, the Washington Post reports, citing the police and ADAMS.
During the last 10 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, mosques hold extra prayers at midnight and 2am. ADAMS co-chair Shoyeb Hassan told the Post it's common for members of ADAMS to eat at the nearby IHOP or McDonald's before sunrise, when the daily fast begins.
At around 4am, a man in a car pulled up next to the group as they walked along the road and a dispute erupted. "It appears the man got out of his car and assaulted one of them," ADAMS said in a statement. "Community members came across the group and directed them to ADAMS Center."
The mosque reported Hassanen missing and police began to scour the area, using search and rescue teams, dogs and a helicopter. During the search, a man driving suspiciously was arrested. Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, was later charged with murder.
At about 3pm Sunday, a woman's remains were found in a pond about 2 miles from the mosque. An autopsy will be performed but Fairfax County Police Department said it believes it is Hassanen. A baseball bat was also discovered at the scene. Hassanen's mother said police told her Nabra had been hit with a metal bat.
Fairfax police confirmed in a tweet Monday morning that they are "not investigating this murder as a hate crime."
There have been a number of hate crimes targeting Muslims in the US. The Council on American-Islamic Affairs found a 57 percent increase in anti-Muslim bias incidents from 2015-2016, and a 44 percent increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes.
In May, two men were fatally stabbed by a man shouting anti-Muslim slurs at two girls on a Portland train after they tried to intervene.
"We call on law enforcement to investigate and determine the motive of this crime and prosecute to the full extent of the law," the ADAMS Center said in a statement. "We are devastated and heartbroken as our community undergoes and processes this traumatic event. It is a time for us to come together to pray and care for our youth."
Reader Comments
"Isn't that a little late at night/early in the morning to be praying?"
No it is not. We muslims may pray up to two thirds of the evening following 'isha prayer (the late evening prayer), which is entirely voluntary.
And "Maybe the mosque needs to think about their late night/early morning Ramadan prayer sessions?"
They do think about it ~ sometimes most the night while they are performing prayer. Maybe you need to think about what happens when the indigenous muslim american mu'minoon who answer to ALLAH alone don't think to call 911 when one of our own is attacked.
"And how do we know it was not an honor killing for something as simple as flirting with darwin (lol at the name as well)?"
There is no such thing as "honor killing", it is just killing. Nowhere in Islam is killing allowed except when capital crimes warrant it such as murder, rape, armed robbery. Now that that is cleared up, how do I know that treedirt isn't secretly advancing an anti islam agenda along side the rest of the loons. Or maybe your just stupid ...
"Any murder is a hate crime."
Some homicidal acts are hate crimes, yes. Not all are. For instance, Adam's son Cane killed Able because he was enraged with his brother AND consequently Able preferred to be the better son and die without fighting him. Human beings are the top of the food chain and the most fierce of creation, but we are also responsible and the most accountable for the rest creation that does not hold the distinction of homo sapien sapien (man that thinks about thinking). In this article's context, the alleged victim does seem to have been a victim of a hate crime of murder. The victim, Nabra Hassanen, is in the garden now where there is no injustice or tyranny ~ just bliss.
May God hug that poor girl in his arms and salve her families wounds. That which has happened to them is horrible and no one should have to endure pain of loss like that.