Man charged with killing of teen in Virginia

WASHINGTON; A tight-knit Muslim community in the suburbs of Washington was in shock Monday after a 17-year- old girl was apparently beaten to death and dumped in a pond following late-night prayers at the local mosque.

Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, have charged a 22-yearold man, Darwin Martinez Torres, with the teenager’s killing but said it was an apparent road rage incident.

Authorities are “NOT investigating this murder as a hate crime,” police said on Twitter.

Social media lit up with anger over the crime.

While the teen has yet to be officially named by police, friends and worshippers at the mosque in Sterling, known as the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, identified her as Nabra Hassanen, from the nearby community of Reston.

The attack occurred on Sunday as a group of young Muslims were walking back from the town centre plaza after midnight prayers at the mosque, according to accounts by police and worshippers.

“A man who appeared to be drunk, got out of his car with a bat,” one of the youths, Tasneem Khan, wrote on social media.

All of the youths with the exception of Hassanen managed to run back to the mosque upon seeing the assailant.

The police department said “this tragic case appears to be the result of a road rage incident involving the suspect, who was driving and who is now charged with murder, and a group of teenagers... walking and riding bikes in and along a roadway.” — AFP