A San Francisco man suspected of vandalizing a Nob Hill mosque was arrested Wednesday night whereas visiting the scene of his alleged crime for the second time in as many days.
San Francisco resident Robert Grey, 35, was booked on one felony rely of vandalism with injury of greater than $400 and a misdemeanor violation of civil rights by damaging one other property. He at the moment sits in a county jail.
Neither Grey nor a consultant had been reached for remark.
San Francisco Law enforcement officials responded to a name from congregants of Masjid al-Tawheed mosque round 7:55 p.m. on Wednesday. Mosque-goers instructed police that Grey was the person who had vandalized their sanctuary on April 4, having acknowledged him for safety footage.
Arriving officers detained Grey after they concluded he matched the outline of the suspect wished within the assault.
“By means of the course of their investigation, officers developed possible trigger [for] arrest,” Police spokesperson Paulina Henderson stated in a press release.
Henderson stated the investigation was nonetheless lively and police had been in search of extra info.
Surveillance video obtained by the San Francisco Normal exhibits a person with a skateboard smashing a number of mosque home windows on April 4.
The person returned to the mosque, in line with the Normal, on Tuesday and Wednesday. Throughout the latter incident, mosque congregants confronted Grey and distracted him lengthy sufficient to name police, who arrived in time to arrest him.
“Group members had been residing in concern for the final two weeks,” stated Yemeni American Aseel Fara, 24, a Masjid al-Tawheed mosque member and a San Francisco Immigrant Rights Commissioner.
Fara stated the incident shocked many neighborhood members who emigrated to San Francisco due to its pluralistic society.
He stated he acquired a name from one other Bay Space mosque that suffered comparable vandalism incident eager to assessment surveillance footage to see if Grey was concerned.
“You don’t count on this right here,” he stated. “This has been very divisive and hopefully we will start to heal due to this arrest.”
The information of Grey’s arrest was celebrated by the Council on American-Islamic Relations Bay Space chapter.
“We’re relieved that an arrest has been made in these distressing incidents,” CAIR Bay Space Government Director Zahra Billoo stated in a press release. “It’s vital for our neighborhood to see tangible actions being taken to guard our locations of worship, the place everybody has the suitable to really feel protected and safe.”
Billoo stated that the variety of complaints of Islamophobia made nationwide is at a 30-year excessive.
There have been 8,061 reviews acquired by CAIR final yr. The group stated almost half of these complaints came about within the final three months because the Oct. 7 Hamas’ assault on Israel that sparked a conflict, ensuing within the killing of 30,000-plus Palestinians by Israeli forces. That variety of Islamophobic complaints represents a 56% enhance in incidents from 2022 to 2023, in line with the group.
“This arrest sends a transparent message that hate-driven behaviors is not going to be neglected and serves as a reminder of the continued challenges we face in combating Islamophobia,” Billoo stated.
