COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- FBI officials have been asked to investigate an attack last week on attendees of a mosque in Columbus, Ohio, to determine if it was a hate crime.
An attorney with Ohio's Council on American-Islamic Relations asked the FBI to look into the incident at the Masjid AsSahaaba mosque to determine what motivated several men to throw rocks at people leaving the mosque, the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch said Wednesday.
An initial report from Columbus police identified Friday's incident as a "biased attack on Muslim men leaving the mosque after prayer during the Ramadan season."
Yet the mosque's imam, Abdiiaziz Abdi, opposed that stance, saying the men who threw the rocks weren't specifically targeting the Muslim worshipers.
Abdi told the Dispatch the unidentified men were part of a group of 20 or more teenagers, who likely would have attacked anyone they happened to see.
The Dispatch said two of the mosque's windows were broken during the attack and one mosque visitor was hit but unhurt by one of the projectiles.
