Early Saturday Morning, 17th December, the sign outside of The Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) centre, based in Redmond, Washington, was torn off of its concrete block by a vandal.
Redmond police released surveillance footage of the vandal destroying the mosque's sign. At 12:41 am a man can be spotted exiting from a pickup truck from the parking area opposite of the mosque.
The vandal waits by a parked van on the opposite side of the road and waits for a truck to pass by, e he eventually makes his way towards the mosque wielding a crowbar in one hand.
The man starts smashing the steel sign ripping it in two and damaging the concrete block, where it is placed. The man spent almost a minute striking the sign before running towards his vehicle.
This was the second time the mosque's sign was destroyed previously the sign was a granite block which was smashed on 21st November, police are unsure if the incidents are related.
Aneelah Afzali, Executive Director of MAPS, addressed the destruction of the sign at a press conference, "It's in this context that the sign at our mosque, the Muslim Association of Puget Sound, was viciously attacked twice in the last month. Individuals may destroy a sign, but you cannot destroy the love and tremendous community support upholding that sign - or our resolve to continue contributing positively to our greater community."
Aneelah also spoke on the rising hate crime in America, " unfortunately, we had our nation's highest record of hate crimes against American Muslims in 2015, and 2016 is on track to be even worse. When hate speech and conspiracy theories against an American minority go unchallenged, they lead to hate crimes."
The Redmond police are currently searching for the vandal who destroyed the sign.