Fresno’s Muslim community on alert after deadly shooting
Allahu Akbar, God is great in Arabic, is a prayer of peace for more than 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.
On Tuesday morning, the scared prayer was shouted by a man who Fresno police say shot and killed four innocent people, all white men.
He then laughed about the shootings when confessing to police, according to Fresno Chief Jerry Dyer.
Dyer says Kori Ali Muhammad told police that he gave himself up because he respects Fresno officers, didn’t want them to shoot him and is not a “coward.”
The police chief says Muhammad hasn’t shown any remorse other than saying sorry to Dyer during his arrest.
Muhammad told family there was a war going on between blacks and whites in America. The Los Angeles Times reported that Muhammad’s father, Vincent Taylor, said his son believed he was part of an ongoing racial war and “a battle was about to take place.”
Faith Fresno, a community organization, is asking Muslim residents to be vigilant and aware of potential backlash. Seyed Ali Ghazvini, Imam of the Islamic Center of Fresno, says women and children are most vulnerable during times of religious tensions.
“This is a tough time, a crucial time,” he said. “These acts have nothing to do with our community or our faith.”
Reza Nekumanesh, a Muslim leader and chair of Faith Fresno, says although there have been no physical assaults on Muslims, there have been hateful comments made on social media.
“We are not taking this lightly,” he said. “We are being vigilant and we ask the people in our community to be vigilant.”
Nekumanesh says women in head scarfs are particularly at risk for being victims of hate crimes. Nekumanesh read a statement from the Islamic Center during the press conference following the shooting.
“We pray for the victims, their family, friends and the organizations that were targeted,” Nekumanesh said. “When someone utters [Allahu Akbar] and commits a violent act it brings pain to our community and truly crushes our hearts and souls.”
The words are sacred and meant to give honor to God and his creation, he said.
No one in the Muslim community recognized Muhammad and said he wasn’t a member of any Fresno congregation or organization.
“This has nothing to do with our faith, our center or our community,” Nekumanesh said. “We call on law enforcement agencies and our officials to properly investigate this man and hold him accountable, accordingly.”
Muhammad was interviewed by detectives on Tuesday. What he told them, led officers to believe his shooting rampage was not an act of terrorism, but a hate crime that started days before Tuesday’s rampage.
On Thursday, April 13, Muhammad went to Motel 6 to meet a woman who was staying at the motel. Security guards told him he needed to provide identification at check-in, which police said he did.
While he and the woman were walking back to the room a fight broke out between Muhammad and the 25-year-old security guard, Carl Williams. Muhammad pulled out a revolver and shot the guard, police said.
He also attempted to shoot a second security guard but missed.
After exhausting every lead, Dyer said the detectives decided to release a photo of Muhammad to the press on Monday night. They believe Muhammad’s actions on Tuesday were set off by seeing his wanted poster.
“I think it was the right move at this time,” Dyer said.
Tuesday’s shootings began just after 10:30 a.m. when Muhammad walked up to a utility truck and shot a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. employee, Zackary David Randalls, 34 of Clovis, sitting in the passenger seat, authorities say. The driver of the truck sped off to the police department for help, but the man died enroute.
Two more victims, Mark James Gassett, 37, and David Martin Jackson, 58, both of Fresno, were gunned down in the parking lot of a Catholic Charities building.
“These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got,” Dyer said during a press conference on Tuesday. “These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intent on carrying out homicides today. He did that.”