Two 17-year-olds and three 18-year-olds have been arrested in Carlton, NY for harassing worshipers and yelling obscenities outside the World Sufi Foundation mosque after Ramadan services on Monday. One reportedly fired his shotgun outside, and as they drove away their cars they hit mosque member David Bell, leaving him with cuts on his hip. Bell told YNN, “I’m just grateful that things weren’t worse last night, which they easily could’ve been."
The teens charged with disrupting a religious service, and the 17-year old who fired the shotgun was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Orleans County DA Joseph V. Cardone told the Times, "We have had occasions in the past, and it seems every three or four years we have some kids drive by the mosque and make comments and that sort of thing. We’ve had minor incidents, but nothing of this magnitude in the past."
Two men were recently arrested: one for peeing on the prayer rugs of a Steinway Street mosque, the other for slashing the throat of a cab driver after finding out he was Muslim. Cardone said police are looking into further charges. He also said, "Clearly what motivated them was their ignorance of the religious beliefs at the mosque, ignorance as to what it is that transpires there, and the people who attend."
