Muslim Family Believes Attack Was Faith-based
Members of a Muslim family whose house in Oklahoma City was shot at during a drive-by Thursday evening think they were targeted because of their faith.
On Tuesday, a stranger driving by Ali and Maryam Taghavi's home in southwest Oklahoma City stopped and asked their 21-year-old son the family's religion.
A large sign that hung on the porch and was visible from the road said, "as-salamu alaykum," an Arabic phrase often used by Muslims meaning "peace be with you."
Without any suspicion, their son told the stranger they were Muslim, Allie Taghavi said. The stranger then drove away.
Then, two days later, on Thursday evening, Ali Taghavi was home with three of his adult children when shots were fired from a car about 7:45 p.m.
"I screamed when I heard the shots, but it was so rapid, ... like firecrackers," he said.
Allie Taghavi ran from his bedroom into his 23-year-old daughter's room, where a bullet had come through the east side of their house, piercing a wall a few feet from where she was sitting at her computer desk.
Seconds later, shots were fired into the bedroom just to the south, where Ali Taghavi had been. One bullet crossed the width of his bedroom and passed into a bathroom, where it lodged in the wall.
No one was injured. The family fled the home after police cleared the scene a few hours later. Family members said they don’t plan to return.
Master Sgt. Gary Knight said the Oklahoma City Police Department's Gang Unit is investigating the firing of shots because it was reported as a drive-by shooting.
No one had been arrested as of Friday evening.
Adam Soltani, executive director of the Oklahoma Chapter on the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said his organization wants the shooting to be investigated as a possible hate crime.
"Our concern is the family's safety," he said. "If this is a bias crime, ... it's concerning to us that anyone would be targeted because they are Muslim."
Police found about 10 shell casings from at least two guns Thursday night. Several more casings were found around the house during the daylight hours Friday.
Although some areas in their Capitol Hill neighborhood have been prone to violence, Maryam Taghavi said the family has felt safe during the 23 years they have lived in the home. She doesn't think it's a coincidence that, just two days earlier, a stranger was asking about their religion.
"It couldn't be a coincidence," she said. "This is just wrong to me, and I can't wrap my head around it."
According to FBI data, anti- Islamic hate crimes in the state jumped from about 36 in 2000 to 481 in 2001. The numbers largely have stayed between 100 to 160 in subsequent years, with 157 reported in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available.
Soltani said Oklahoma is typically a comfortable place for Muslims to live.
But he's troubled by the violence to the Taghavi family's home, particularly in light of the recent targeting of mosques in the region and in Oklahoma City.
The Grand Mosque in northwest Oklahoma City was vandalized with paintballs in August, just before the celebration of the end of Ramadan. No suspects have been arrested in that case.
Source: tulsaworld.com
A large sign that hung on the porch and was visible from the road said, "as-salamu alaykum," an Arabic phrase often used by Muslims meaning "peace be with you."
Without any suspicion, their son told the stranger they were Muslim, Allie Taghavi said. The stranger then drove away.
Then, two days later, on Thursday evening, Ali Taghavi was home with three of his adult children when shots were fired from a car about 7:45 p.m.
"I screamed when I heard the shots, but it was so rapid, ... like firecrackers," he said.
Allie Taghavi ran from his bedroom into his 23-year-old daughter's room, where a bullet had come through the east side of their house, piercing a wall a few feet from where she was sitting at her computer desk.
Seconds later, shots were fired into the bedroom just to the south, where Ali Taghavi had been. One bullet crossed the width of his bedroom and passed into a bathroom, where it lodged in the wall.
No one was injured. The family fled the home after police cleared the scene a few hours later. Family members said they don’t plan to return.
Master Sgt. Gary Knight said the Oklahoma City Police Department's Gang Unit is investigating the firing of shots because it was reported as a drive-by shooting.
No one had been arrested as of Friday evening.
Adam Soltani, executive director of the Oklahoma Chapter on the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said his organization wants the shooting to be investigated as a possible hate crime.
"Our concern is the family's safety," he said. "If this is a bias crime, ... it's concerning to us that anyone would be targeted because they are Muslim."
Police found about 10 shell casings from at least two guns Thursday night. Several more casings were found around the house during the daylight hours Friday.
Although some areas in their Capitol Hill neighborhood have been prone to violence, Maryam Taghavi said the family has felt safe during the 23 years they have lived in the home. She doesn't think it's a coincidence that, just two days earlier, a stranger was asking about their religion.
"It couldn't be a coincidence," she said. "This is just wrong to me, and I can't wrap my head around it."
According to FBI data, anti- Islamic hate crimes in the state jumped from about 36 in 2000 to 481 in 2001. The numbers largely have stayed between 100 to 160 in subsequent years, with 157 reported in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available.
Soltani said Oklahoma is typically a comfortable place for Muslims to live.
But he's troubled by the violence to the Taghavi family's home, particularly in light of the recent targeting of mosques in the region and in Oklahoma City.
The Grand Mosque in northwest Oklahoma City was vandalized with paintballs in August, just before the celebration of the end of Ramadan. No suspects have been arrested in that case.
Source: tulsaworld.com
