Slain Muslim teen remembered at Lake Eola vigil,

The story of Nabra Hassanen, the Muslim teenager who was killed Sunday in Virginia, hit close to home for 14-year-old Zyva Sheikh of Sanford.

“That could have been me,” she said at a vigil for 17-year-old Nabra Thursday night at Lake Eola Park. “I could relate to her.”

Zyva said she stayed up until 4 or 5 a.m. writing a spokenword piece in Nabra’s memory, then rewrote it Thursday morning.

In the evening, she stood before a gathering of a few dozen people at the park and read it off her cellphone and into a megaphone:

“The sound of her footsteps bouncing off the sidewalk, returning back to the place she spent the last few hours praying. Praying to the one who gave her life, and the one who she would return to.”

A group of Muslims and other supporters gathered near Lake Eola to remember Nabra, who was kidnapped while returning to a mosque with about 15 other young people after a break-thefast meal during Ramadan.

Her body was found in a pond near the apartment of Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, an immigrant from El Salvador whom authorities suspect of being in the U.S. illegally.

Organizers wanted to honor Nabra and send a message of unity with immigrant communities, said Rasha Mubarak, Central Florida regional director for the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“We’re not going to let this divide us as marginalized communities fighting for rights,” she said.

“… There’s a lot of pain in the community right now with the loss of a 17-year-old Muslim girl and how she was killed, and I think it’s just time for the Muslim community to come together and convene and honor her,” Mubarak said.