A mosque in western Kentucky was vandalized on Friday, but law enforcement officials said the vandalism had been carried out with ketchup and they did not think it was a hate crime.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement on Sunday that it was calling on law enforcement to investigate red markings at the Islamic Center of Owensboro as a possible hate crime.
The statement said officials at the mosque believed the vandalism was motivated by bias against Islam.
Cair spokesman Ibrahim Hooper noted an increase in anti-mosque incidents across the nation.
Sgt Scott Wedding of Daviess County sheriff’s department, however, said deputies were called to the mosque on Friday afternoon to investigate markings that turned out to have been made with smeared ketchup.
He said officials were not treating the vandalism as a possible hate crime because those who perpetrated it left no words or symbols to indicate hate as a motivation.
The Guardian