According to Chief Michel Moore’s statement on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Police Department has detained a man on suspicion of defacing a mosque in Koreatown with anti-Islamic hate speech.
Around 12:40 on Sunday am, a surveillance camera on Vermont Avenue captured video of a guy writing on the Islamic Center of Southern California with a permanent marker. The Islamic Center of Southern California is both a mosque and a cultural center.
Moore stated that Carlos Moran, 43, was taken into custody in the 500 block of Shatto Place close to the mosque. He added that Moran claimed he was a king and appeared to be battling with mental health concerns.
Moran was brought into jail. The leader characterized the writings as being driven by hatred. Moore stated that the authorities were given information regarding the suspect’s location a few hours after the screen grab of the CCTV film was made public.
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According to what he indicated, the office of the district attorney has filed criminal vandalism charges against Moran.
The act of vandalism took place during the holy month of Ramadan in Islam, which began toward the end of March. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims are encouraged to get closer to God by participating in daily prayers and by abstaining from food and drink beginning just before sunrise and continuing all the way through sunset.
“This is an appalling act of vandalism targeting the center where innocent individuals gather for their daily religious observances,” the Islamic Center of Southern California said in a statement, adding that the community is “deeply saddened and disturbed.”
Moore condemned what he called a “blatant and hateful act of violence” while he was speaking to reporters following the meeting of the Police Commission on Tuesday.
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“Why does the department devote so much of its resources to handling cases of this nature? And the reason for it is that it is frequently a prelude to subsequent acts of violence and other acts,” Moore said. “We are aware that there is, if you will, an onramp to extremism, an onramp that leads people to escalate their actions to the point where they commit actual violent crimes,”
Moore went on to say that the fact that the suspect seemed to be homeless was irrelevant to the investigation because it had nothing to do with the suspect’s behavior.
Due to the fact that Ramadan, Passover, and Easter were all occurring at the same time, the Los Angeles Police Department had assigned additional resources to the patrol of places of worship.
