A memorial erected in Washington’s Dupont Circle for 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen, who was brutally killed after abduction, was set on fire in a widely condemned outrageous act of vandalism.
A gathering of diverse communities represented outpouring of support for Nabra at the Dupont Circle on Tuesday, as people held a vigil and made a memorial for the teenage girl. Her death has been mourned at several places in the country.
According to Fox5DC, the DC Fire responded to the scene at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and found the remains from the memorial destroyed in fire at the DuPont Memorial Fountain.
DC Police have arrested 24-year-old Jonathan Soloman of South Carolina in connection with the fire.
In Virginia, suspected killer of the Muslim girl, 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres has been arrested.
Civil society organizations and Muslim communities have urged Police to investigate the murder of Hassanen as hate crime since she was subjected to brutality, abducted, hit in the head with a baseball in a hateful manner, and was discriminated because of her dress.
Police so far have not found any proof to charge Torres with hate crime and have termed the crime as stemming from road rage.
The murder of the young girl during the month of Ramazan following her abduction outside the Adams Center Mosque had shocked Virginia communities. Nabra was out with her friends for pre-dawn breakfast known as “Sehri,” when she tripped after an argument with the suspected killer.
Torres, who is said to be illegally living in the United States, hit her in the head, abducted in the car and again smashed her. Police found the body of the Nabra in a pond around 3 p.m Sunday. Police have promised a meticulous investigation and are also looking into whether Nabra was also sexually assaulted.
Was this road rage, too? Nabra Hassanen's memorial was set on fire in Washington, D.C. #JusticeForNabra https://t.co/OSm3OLDUlC
— Arjun Sethi (@arjunsethi81) June 21, 2017
On Wednesday, the news of destruction of the memorial for Hassanaen outraged American communities who expressed their utter disgust with the act of vandalism on social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter.
Meanwhile, hundreds of mourners, friends and relatives of the slain girl said farewell to Hassanen with tears and sorrow when they offered funeral prayer of the deceased.
