After Mosque is Vandalized a Community Comes Together
A Muslim religious center in Norfolk, Virginia was spray painted with Christian crosses earlier this week.
Amidst a recent ramping up of hate against Muslim communities by politicians in New York and Islamophobic marches from right wing provocateurs like Jake Lang in Michigan and Texas a man spray painted dozens of crosses along the walls of the Masjid Ash Shura Mosque on Sunday December 7th, 2025.
After images of the hateful vandalism were posted on Reddit’s r/Norfolk by a community member, people began to organize planning to show up with paint on the following Wednesday.
Many people did. Showing up with paint, rollers, garbage bags for tarps. Congregants of the Masjid Ash Shura brought doughnuts and coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts.
The Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi spoke to the media, asking people to look at the photos posted by the Norfolk Police Department to hopefully identify the man that spray painted the crosses. The Norfolk PD refused to label it a hate crime.
According to WHRO’s Toby Cox’s reporting: “Local law enforcement hasn’t determined if the act was a hate crime, but they also haven’t ruled it out, said Ramin Fatehi, Norfolk’s Commonwealth’s Attorney. The determination will depend on the facts of the case, he said.
When the intent is to intimidate someone or a community based on race, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability, an act is considered a hate crime, Fatehi said.”
The police have posted blurry screen shots from the security video from the Masjid Ash Shura Mosque. Having spoken to members of the mosque who have seen the original video, this is the quality of the video that have captured as it was late at night and the cameras weren’t of the highest resolution.
More on this as information comes in.
