Muslim community center defaced with pro-Trump grafitti
Police say they’ve arrested a 20-year-old man for spray-painting anti-Muslim messages and the words “Donald Trump” on a Muslim community center in Bayonne, New Jersey, early Friday morning.
Jonathon Huffey faces charges of criminal mischief, bias intimidation and criminal trespass, according to Lt. James Donovan of the Bayonne Police Department.
Huffey, a Bayonne resident, is accused of spray-painting a slew of hateful messages ― including “Fuck Muslims,” “Fuck ISIS,” “Fuck Allah” and “Fuck Arabs,” as well as “Donald Trump,” the name of the Republican presidential nominee ― on the exterior wall of the Muslim Community Miraj Center, located in the basement of a Catholic elementary school.
Donovan told The Huffington Post that police tracked Huffey down thanks to an eyewitness and surveillance footage from a nearby bank. It’s not clear whether Huffey has an attorney.
The Bayonne Department of Public Works arrived on the scene Friday to clean the graffiti, Donovan said.
“Personally I really was saddened that somebody would do something so ignorant,” Waheed Akbar, an administrator and board member at the Muslim center, said Friday. “Especially this being a Catholic school building. There’s kids in this building. A day care center.”