Mosque burned in Saturday morning fires

YERMO - On Saturday morning, the sheriff's department and fire crews from the area responded multiple fires in Yermo, one at the Beanery, an old Union Pacific building, and one on property owned by Ali Mohammed. The fire destroyed buildings, one of which the local Muslim community used as a mosque.

"I don't know if it's a hate crime or not," Mohammed said. "I hope it's not a hate crime."

The fire on Mohammed's property destroyed three buildings, a two-bedroom unit, a fourbedroom unit and a garage. The garage served as a temporary mosque until renovations finished on one of the other units, Mohammed said. During holidays, Mohammed said 150 to 200 people would come to the mosque to worship. Worshipers prayed at the mosque on Friday evening, he said, the day before the fire destroyed it.

Deputies arrested two men in connection with the fires. Loren Jesse Clark, 18, of Yermo, was arraigned on Tuesday on two counts of felony arson. He pleaded not guilty to both counts. The sheriff's department has identified the other suspect as a 16-year-old male. He was cited for arson and released to his mother, according to the sheriff's report. His name was not released.

Deputy Eddie Paul of the Barstow station said one of the suspects admitted to setting the fire. However, he would not identify which one. Paul also said the fire did not appear to be a hate crime.

Arden Wiltshire, a public information officer with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, said intent plays a large role in determining a hate crime and during interviews with the suspects, the investigating deputies did not find reason to suspect a hate crime.

A peaceful two years

Mohammed came to the United States 29 years ago from Jordan and moved with his family to Barstow about two years ago. He bought a two-acre lot in Yermo on Yermo Road between Second and Third streets and began renovating the buildings. He hoped to open a mosque, a school and a halfway house for former prisoners to help the Muslim community in Barstow. In all, Mohammed said there are about 22 Muslim families in Barstow and some in Daggett, Hinkley and Lenwood. He said his family is the only Muslim family in Yermo.

Mohammed called his two years in Yermo peaceful. He said the neighborhood is predominately Christian, but there have been no problems. Recently, he left $50,000 to $60,000 worth of restaurant equipment in front of his mosque, and it was left alone. However, the equipment was destroyed in the fire.

"They know I'm Muslim," he said. "I leave everybody alone and they leave me alone."

He thinks the fire was set by kids in the area who did not know it was a mosque.

"The building's burned but not the mosque," he said. "A building, you could put back real easy, but neighbors, people living together in one country, that is not easy to put back. We could all help, and we could all be a peaceful people living in a wonderful country."

Not typical of Barstow and Yermo communities

Munira Syeda, the communications coordinator for the Southern California Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, previously lived in the High Desert and worked as a reporter for the Desert Dispatch. She described the Barstow and Yermo communities as communities welcoming of people from everywhere. This incident does not reflect the broader community, she said.

"We hope that this is just a case of random arson and it's not a targeted case of arson," Syeda said. "Our response as a community at large should be to continue to show unity and to completely reject those elements who try to spread discord by inciting bigotry and Islamophobia."

Syeda cited a recent Gallop poll that reported that 39 percent of respondents held some prejudice against Muslims, and the same percentage thought Muslims should carry identification cards to prevent further terrorists attacks in the United States. She added that 22 percent of the respondents would not want Muslims as neighbors.

She said looking at these statistics is a concern for Muslim-Americans. There are between 6 and 7 million Muslims in America, she said.

"To an extent, there is still prejudice out there against Muslims," she said. "We hope that we can overcome that."

Mohammed is hoping he can rebuild on his property and stay in Yermo. He is unsure whether the buildings were insured. The property was recently transferred to his name, and he just received a loan to do further renovations on the buildings. He estimated the damages at $200,000 and is looking to the county, the city and the Muslim community for help in rebuilding. For the next month, until Mohammed finishes another building on the property, he said the Muslim community will have nowhere to pray.