Fire at Florida mosque ruled arson

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

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/

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There is also a video at the link.

[juxtaposed]

1. everyone knew it was arson today.. these mosques are located in yahooo country of the tampa bay are

a. Redneck haven...

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

10. The area is New Tampa which is actually pretty diverse

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]

2. Arson at a mosque?

Why would anyone think hate might be involved?

[Bengus81]

5. my first thought too.. Gosh..with Trump and his ilk HOW could that have been a hate crime? nt

[benld74]

3. Prayers

[shenmue]

4. I work a few miles away

Damn shame.

[luvMIdog]

6. this is also terrorism

but the current admin could care less

[applegrove]

7. This will just bring us closers together. As did civil rights.

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. Yeah, the one in Victoria,TX was arson too.

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]

9. How can we help?

Any place for contributions?

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

11. I'm not sure yet but if I find out I'll post in this thread

Some of my family members have actually been to an open house at this mosque before. I'll try to find out something.

[BadgerMom]

13. Thanks!

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

12. UPDATE: How to help!

http://www.newtampamasjid.org/#home

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]

14. Done!

Thank you!

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

15. You're welcome!

eom