No injuries reported; police to provide extra patrols
Updated: 6:51 p.m. ET Sept 23, 2006
MELBOURNE, Fla. - A mosque was hit by gunfire as members inside celebrated the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, authorities said Saturday.
No injuries were reported and there were no arrests.
A member of the Islamic Society of Brevard County stepped outside the mosque Friday night to use his cell phone when he heard several gun shots, police said.
The man, who was not immediately identified, took cover behind a wall as several rounds struck the building, police said. He then ran inside and told mosque members, who called police.
Authorities searched the surrounding area for suspects but found none. Police were not releasing many details of the shooting because the investigation was ongoing, spokeswoman Jill Frederiksen said Saturday. Detectives were working to determine a reason for the shooting.
Police will begin extra patrols around the mosque in Melbourne, about 50 miles east-southeast of Orlando.
Ibrahim Hooper, national spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that while no motive had been determined by police, the shooting fit a pattern of incidents at mosques this year.
A bullet-riddled Quran was left outside a mosque in Chattanooga, Tenn., and an Indiana mosque was vandalized. There were other incidents at mosques in Maine, Arizona and Maryland.
“Worshippers of the mosque would obviously be disturbed if (religion) was the motive for the attack,” Hooper said Saturday.
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