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Mosque in Fort Collins, Colorado ‘seriously' vandalized

Posted at 2:23 PM, Mar 26, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-27 16:44:02-04

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Police are looking for a vandal who targeted the Fort Collins Islamic Center early Sunday.

A police an officer responded to the center at around 5:30 a.m. Sunday for a call of criminal mischief. No further details were given.

Sunday afternoon, Rabbi Hillel Katzir of Temple Or Hadash, said in a news release the center was "seriously vandalized."

Rabbi Hillel said someone threw a Bible through the glass doors. The doors were broken with large stones or bricks, Hillel added.

“I went there this morning to view the damage, and was appalled by what I saw,” he said.

Rep. Jared Polis tweeted about the crime, calling it "unacceptable." 

Rabbi Hillel is calling on people to come show support for the Fort Collins Muslim community at 5 p.m. The center is located at 925 Lake Street.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the mosque, a spokesperson said. The money will be used to invest in a strong security system and also to repair the glass doors. 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on state and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate the vandalism at the center as a possible hate crime.