Maplewood police seeking suspects who defaced mosque

Maplewood police are seeking the public's help in finding two suspects that defaced a mosque last month.

Police released images from a surveillance video showing what authorities say are two men spray-painting graffiti on the outside wall of the Islamic Institute of Minnesota's Al-Salam mosque. The messages included the number 666 and the words "Jesus Saves," along with a cross and other graffiti.

The video shows the incident occurred at about 1:30 a.m. July 29.

Public safety director Scott Nadeau called the incident unacceptable and said it has no place in Maplewood. Police are asking anyone with information to call police or Crime Stoppers of Minnesota.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations said in a news release that the graffiti included obscenities.

"Given the nature of the vandalism and the empowerment of Islamophobia nationwide by some of our nation's top officials, we urge law enforcement authorities to treat this vandalism as a possible hate crime," said executive director Jaylani Hussein.

The incident comes almost exactly a year after a bombing at a Bloomington, Minn., mosque, allegedly by three Illinois men. They face federal explosives and hate crime charges in that incident, as well as a firearms-related charge.

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