Early Sunday morning, a teenage Muslim girl was murdered, allegedly by a 22-year-old Latino man, after she was singled out from a group she was walking with when the man drove by in his car.
Nabra Hassanen, 17, was walking with her group of friends back from an IHOP restaurant, where the group had reportedly eaten breakfast before starting the all day-fast celebrating Ramadan, toward the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center in Sterling, Virginia, to utter prayers for Ramadan.
Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, allegedly drove by the group and got into a confrontation with them. The group dispersed in chaos, heading back toward the mosque; they later told police that Torres got out of his vehicle holding a baseball bat. The group only realized Hassanen was missing when they regrouped at the mosque, where officials contacted the police.
The Fairfax County Police Department reported that Hassanen’s remains and a baseball bat were discovered on Sunday afternoon in a pond about two miles from the mosque
Torres returned to the site of the confrontation later; an officer said he was he was driving suspiciously.” He was arrested and charged with murder.
The Adams Center released this statement: “We call on law enforcement to investigate and determine the motive of this crime and prosecute to the full extent of the law. We are devastated and heartbroken as our community undergoes and processes this traumatic event. It is a time for us to come together to pray and care for our youth.”
According to NBCWashington, the crime will not be investigated as a hate crime. Police spokeswoman Tawny Wright said, “At this point, there doesn’t seem to be indication this was a bias incident. It looks like they got into a dispute over something.”
