Feds Called In after Fire at Michigan Mosque
Pittsfield Township Fire Chief Sean Gleason said there is no indication that the cause of the fire at the Islamic Center of Ypsilanti is suspicious but because of its designation as a mosque, officials contacted the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
MLive.com and WDIV-TV report the fire department was called to the mosque shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday. When firefighters arrived, they found the middle section of the building in flames. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire. Nobody was inside the building at the time.
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Sunday asked local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to probe the fire. They're also offering a $1,000 award for any information given to law enforcement that leads to an arrest and conviction if the fire is ruled to be an arson.
"We urge state and federal agencies to use their full resources to investigate this fire to determine a cause and, if it is determined to be arson, a possible motive," Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan council, said in a news release.
Walid said in the release that suspicions about the fire "are heightened" because of community opposition to an Islamic school being built in the township.
The township in 2011 rejected the request of the school, located in Ann Arbor, to construct a new building in the township. The school sued, and received a $1.7 million settlement from the township. Township officials have said their opposition to the school had nothing to do with religion.
Source: feep.com
