Mosques hit by possible hate crimes

Desecrated Korans were left at two centers in the Sacramento area.

Authorities are investigating possible hate crimes at two mosques in the Sacramento Valley during the last days of Ramadan.

The first incident was reported Friday night at the Islamic Center of Davis, where someone driving by threw pages torn from a Koran, according to the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

The center had been participating in taraweeh prayers in the last days of Ramadan, according to CAIR.

The next day in south Sacramento, a burned Koran filled with bacon was found outside the Masjid Annur Islamic Center, according to Sgt. Tony Turnbull, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff ’s Department.

The Koran was hanging by a handcuff on a fence between a sheriff ’s station and the mosque, he said in a statement.

The Islamic center is the largest mosque in the greater Sacramento area, authorities said. The mosque “has been a neighbor to the Sheriff’s Department Central Area Station for many years,” the sergeant said.

Turnbull said the crime does not appear at this time to be connected to the Davis incident.

“We thank all the officers involved in these investigations for their prompt and professional actions in responding to these troubling incidents,” Basim Elkarra, the Sacramento CAIR chapter’s executive director, said in a statement. “Decisive action by law enforcement authorities sends a strong message of deterrence to anyone who contemplates turning their bigoted views into acts of intimidation.”

This is the second haterelated incident at the Davis mosque this year. In January, authorities found broken windows and two vandalized bicycles there. Davis police said bacon had also been wrapped on a door handle.

Lauren Kirk-Coehlo, 30, of Davis was arrested in connection with the January incident. She eventually pleaded guilty to vandalism and a hate crime.