Surveillance video shows vandal smashing glass door of Minneapolis mosque

Surveillance video shows vandal breaking glass door of Minneapolis mosque

Surveillance video at the Masjid Salaam Cultural Center in northeast Minneapolis caught a vandal breaking the glass door of the mosque Sunday night and then walking away.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Someone damaged a mosque in Minneapolis Sunday, and the leaders of the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations want police to investigate the vandalism as a possible hate crime. 

Surveillance video at the Masjid Salaam Cultural Center on the 3100 block of Central Avenue Northeast in the Audubon Park neighborhood shows a person smashing a glass door in the mosque. Someone was at the mosque at the time of the break-in, but CAIR-Minnesota Executive Director Jaylani Hussein told FOX 9 the suspect did not speak to that person. 

Surveillance video shows vandal smashing glass door of Minneapolis mosque

Someone damaged a mosque in Minneapolis Sunday, and the leaders of the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations want police to investigate the vandalism as a possible hate crime.

CAIR-Minnesota said it wants state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive behind the vandalism. The organization reported the incident to the FBI and the Minneapolis Police Department. 

“Given the rise in anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and white supremacist rhetoric and hate incidents in Minnesota and nationwide, we urge law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for this attack,” Hussein said. 

(CAIR-MN / FOX 9)

Mosque leaders say they will meet to decide whether they will need to hire a security guard in hopes of preventing encounters like this in the future.