Shocked family believe daughter was killed because of her religion

The Virginia teens were up late observing Ramadan, so they did what young people often do in the wee hours of the weekend: They went out for a bite to eat at McDonald’s.

But as they walked and biked back to the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (Adams) mosque in Sterling, northern Virginia, along a major thoroughfare, a red car approached from behind about 3.40am Sunday local time and chaos erupted.

The driver, Darwin Martinez Torres, a 22-year-old construction worker from Sterling, got into an argument with a teenager on a bike and then drove his car over a curb, scattering the group of as many as 15 teens, police said.

He caught up with them a short time later in a parking lot and chased them with a baseball bat, striking 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen and then abducting her in his car, police said.

Martinez Torres assaulted Nabra a second time, in Loudoun County, Virginia, before dumping her body in a pond next to his apartment complex, where it was discovered about 12 hours later, police said. The medical examiner ruled yesterday that the girl died of blunt-force trauma to the head and neck.

The horrific slaying of the South Lakes High School student reverberated beyond Virginia yesterday, as social media lit up with anger and grief, politicians expressed condolences and groups of various faiths condemned the violence.

Many feared it was another hate crime targeting Muslims, coming shortly before a man driving a truck in London ploughed into a group of people who had just finished Ramadan prayers. It follows a national upswing in attacks targeting Muslims since the November election.

So far, Fairfax County police said they have no indication that Nabra was targeted because of her religion, saying her killing was probably a “road rage incident”, although they continue to investigate the motivation.

“There was no indication of any racial slurs or any back-and-forth other than a verbal argument,” Lieutenant Bryan Holland said.

The apparent lack of a hate crime offered little consolation to Nabra’s Nabra Hassanen was respectful and helpful, say friends and neighbours.

Why was he running behind the kids wearing Islamic clothes with a baseball stick? Why, when my daughter fell down, why did he hit her? For what? We don’t know this guy. Mohmoud Hassanen

family. Mohmoud Hassanen said that he and his first-born daughter were always close. “She used to be like my friend, not my daughter,” he said.

“I hope she’s in paradise. I don’t want any family to feel like what I feel now,” Hassanen said.

The incident began between 2am and 3am, when a group of four or five teens left the Adams Centre during an overnight gathering to get that latenight meal, family members and police said.

Members of the mosque said it was not uncommon for young people to go to the nearby McDonald’s to eat before the Ramadan fast resumed at daybreak. The McDonald’s is about 1.6km from the mosque.

The teens were returning to the mosque when they encountered Martinez Torres.

Tawny Wright, a Fairfax police spokeswoman, said a 911 call was placed at 4.08am for a report of a motorist trying to run down the teens. Wright said officers were dispatched to take a preliminary report from the teens and a search was quickly launched for Nabra that eventually included dogs, a helicopter and multiple police units. Martinez Torres was arrested little over an hour later and Nabra’s body was discovered that afternoon.

Hassanen, the father of Nabra, said that he feels sure his daughter was killed because of her religion.

“He killed her because she’s a Muslim — this is what I tell the detective,” Hassanen said. “Why was he running behind the kids wearing Islamic clothes with a baseball stick? Why, when my daughter fell down, why did he hit her? For what? We don’t know this guy. He doesn’t know us. We don’t hate anybody because of religion or colour. I teach my kids to love everybody.”

An aunt of Martinez Torres’ who was at the court but declined to give her name said his family were shocked and mystified about the charges against him.

He is Salvadoran and has a 4-yearold son and a girlfriend. He attended school briefly in the United States.

The aunt said she thought that Martinez Torres did not know Nabra, adding that family members also did not know the girl.

“I can’t believe it,” the aunt said. “He is nice with my mom. He is nice with my family. He’s a nice dad.”

Neighbours who gathered in and outside the Hassanens’ apartment, both Muslim and Christian, described the teen as unusually respectful, calling older neighbours “sir” and “ma’am” and helping watch small children both at home and at the mosque.

No one could believe that the timid and conflict-averse teen would argue with a stranger on the street.

“Nabra’s personality, she gets scared very easily,” said her mother, Sawsan Gazzar. “Nabra doesn’t even fight with her sisters. She’s very scared.”

Based on her conversations with detectives, Gazzar said she thought that the driver shouted at the teens and threw beer bottles at them.

Nabra’s father said he tried to put that lesson “to love everybody” in practical terms, taking his four daughters to pack food for the hungry each Thanksgiving to demonstrate the importance of caring for others. Nabra learned it well, he said — she befriended everyone, Muslim and non-Muslim.