— London Times: “Russian priest and Muslim critic, Daniil Sysoyev, assassinated in church”
— London Times reports:
— “A Russian Orthodox priest known for his outspoken criticism of Islam and attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity has been assassinated in his Moscow church.”
— “A masked gunman shot Father Daniil Sysoyev in the head and chest after asking for him by name, police said. The choirmaster, Vladimir Strelbinsky, was seriously wounded in the attack at St Thomas Church in southern Moscow.”
— “Father Daniil, 35, died of his wounds in hospital late last night. A Russian newspaper reported that he had recently told its journalists of 14 death threats by telephone and e-mail, which he had received as a result of his work among Muslim migrants from former Soviet republics.”
— ” ‘They’ve threatened to cut my head off 14 times,’ the priest told Komsomolskaya Pravda, adding that the Federal Security Service had contacted him last year after uncovering a plot to murder him.”
— “He claimed to have christened 80 Muslims, ‘among them Tatars, Uzbeks, Chechens and Dagestanis’. He said that other priests were unwilling to follow his lead because ‘they are afraid of revenge from the Muslim world’.”
— “The co-chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Nafigulla Ashirov, called Father Daniil a ‘Russian Salman Rushdie’ after he wrote a book in 2007 condemning Islam’s treatment of women.”
— Reuters: “Russia: Masked gunman kills Russian priest at Moscow church”
— Reuters: “A masked gunman entered a church and murdered a Russian Orthodox priest who had received death threats for converting Muslims to Christianity and criticizing Islam, prosecutors and church officials said Friday.”
— “The killing could threaten delicate relations between the powerful majority Russian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the Kremlin, and the country’s growing Muslim minority of about 20 million.”
— “The gunman approached priest Daniil Sysoyev, 34, in St Thomas Church in southern Moscow Thursday night, checked his name and then opened fire with a pistol, a spokesman for the investigating committee of the Prosecutor-General’s office said.”
— ” ‘The main theory is that religious motives are behind the crime,’ spokesman Anatoly Bagmet said.”
— “Sysoyev was from Tatarstan, a predominantly Muslim region of Russia on the Volga river. He was threatened after preaching to Muslims and Christians from other denominations.”
— ” ‘I have received 10 threats via e-mail that I shall have my head cut off (if I do not stop preaching to Muslims),” Sysoyev stated on a television program in February 2008, according to Interfax. ‘As I see it, it is a sin not to preach to Muslims.’ ”
— COMPASS News reports: “Muslim Extremists Attack Worship Service in Uganda” — “Church member taking photos beaten, building damaged.”
— “About 40 Muslim extremists with machetes and clubs tried to break into a Sunday worship service outside Uganda’s capital city of Kampala on Nov. 1, leaving a member of the congregation with several injuries and damaging the church building.”
— “Eyewitnesses said the extremist mob tried to storm into World Possessor’s Church International in Namasuba at 11 a.m. as the church worshipped.”
Christians examine damage to their church outside of Kampala, Uganda. (COMPASS Direct News)
Los Angeles Police Dept continues search for gunman in shooting, described as African-American man wearing black hoodie. Synagogue members are predominantly Moroccan and North African Jews, according to LA Times. Media reports conflict on whether shooter spoke to those he attacked before shooting. LA Times reports men attacked without discussion; Haaretz reports argument before shooting.
Los Angeles Times: “Police search for gunman in L.A. synagogue shooting” — “The sources said detectives are trying to determine the motive, and whether the gunman acted alone or as part of a larger group. LAPD detectives were reviewing security videotapes from the temple in hopes of better understanding the chain of events.”
— “They were also searching a nearby park to see if the suspect is hiding there.”
— “The temple, which has a congregation of mostly Moroccan and other North African Jews, installed security cameras years ago to discourage attacks, Yehuda said.”
Los Angeles Times reports: — “Synagogues in L.A. on alert after shooting that police are investigating as a hate crime”
— “Two worshipers at a North Hollywood synagogue were shot this this morning in an attack LAPD detectives are investigating as a hate crime.”
— “At about 7:40 a.m., Los Angeles police arrested a man near the synagogue but the sources say they don’t believe he was the gunman.”
— “LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore said the shootings occurred in the underground garage of the temple. A man coming to the temple for worship parked his car in the lot and was approached by suspect who Moore said was wearing a black hoodie.”
— “‘Without any words,’ Moore said, the suspect shot the man in the leg. Then the gunman fired on a second man who had arrived for prayers. That second victim was also wounded in the leg.”
— “LAPD officials have alerted other synagogues around Los Angeles about the shooting, and police have stepped up patrols at Jewish religious institutions.”
Los Angeles Times reports: — “LAPD sources told The Times that the gunman approached the victims as they were about to enter the temple for morning prayers. The sources said the gunman pulled out his weapon and fired. The gun jammed at first, then he fired again.”
Jerusalem Post reports: — “The synagogue’s rabbi said the attack came as people were leaving the building. ‘People were leaving the synagogue after Shaharit [the morning service]… a man who was standing outside, hiding so that he won’t be seen, started shooting, hit two people and then ran away,’ Rabbi Yossi Malka, the synagogue’s rabbi told Army Radio after the incident. Speaking in Hebrew, Malka told the station that ‘police said this was a hate crime… that it was done because this was a Jewish synagogue [sic].'”
CBS2/KCLA9 reports: “Police had detained a teenager for questioning, but the LAPD continued to search for possible suspects in the area, Derek Bell, who was over in Sky 2 said. According to authorities, the juvenile matched the ‘very loose’ description of the attacker, who was described as a black man wearing a hoodie, Moore said.” KNX1070 News Radio Report — Audio News Conference KABC-TV Los Angeles Reports:
— “2 shot inside North Hollywood synagogue”
— “Two people were shot inside a synagogue in North Hollywood on Thursday. Authorities responded to reports of a shooting at Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue on the 12400 block of Sylvan Street at 6:18 a.m. Two victims with gunshot wounds to the legs were taken to a local hospital in unknown condition. One man has been detained near the shooting.”
AP reports: — “Two men in their 40s were shot in the legs near the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Orthodox synagogue in North Hollywood, Deputy Police Chief Michel Moore said. The men, both members of the synagogue, had arrived in separate cars for the morning service shortly before 6:30 a.m. when the gunman approached one and, without speaking, shot him and the other man, Moore said. The men were hospitalized in good condition.”
— “Police later detained and handcuffed a man less than a mile from the synagogue. The youth, believed to be about 17 years old, matched the ‘very loose’ description of the attacker, who was described as a black man wearing a hoodie, Moore said.”
— “Officers cordoned off the area and continued to search for a possible suspect, Moore said.”
— “There were no security guards in the parking garage but investigators will look at the synagogue’s security videos, he said. There was no immediate word on a motive.”
— “‘We have to assume, because it was a synagogue, it was a service (and) that there was no other apparent motive, we’re looking at it as a hate crime,’ Lt. John Romero said.”
— “The FBI also responded to the scene, and police alerted nearby Jewish schools and temples and put extra patrols in place. There are several synagogues in the area.”
— “‘We are being vigilant for any follow-ups that may occur,’ Moore said.”
MSNBC reports:
— “A man with a handgun entered the building at about 6:20 a.m. and shot two people, police said. Police are investigating the shooting as a hate crime.”
— “The victims were taken to a hospital.”
— “It was not clear how many people were in the building at the time of the shooting.”
— “No one answered a call to the synagogue.”
— “The attack occurred 10 miles away from a 1999 shooting at a Jewish community center where white supremacist Buford Furrow wounded three children, a teenager and an adult. He later killed a letter carrier.”
Haaretz reports:
— “Los Angeles Police subsequently detained a man whom they believed to be the shooter.”
— “Officer Rosario Herrera said a man with a handgun entered the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue in North Hollywood at about 6:20 a.m. and shot two people. The victims were later taken to a hospital.”
— “The Israeli consulate in Los Angeles said the gunman was an African American who had had an argument with two Jews in the parking lot. The pair then entered the building, after which the gunman followed them in and opened fire, the consulate said.”
— “Their condition was stable, according to the consulate.”
CNN reports: — “A man wearing a hooded sweatshirt shot two men at a North Hollywood synagogue Thursday morning, wounding them in their legs, police said.”
— “The two men, who have not been identified, are in stable condition at separate hospitals, said Deputy Chief Michel Moore of the Los Angeles Police Department.”
— “Police have taken a person into custody whose clothing matches ‘a loose description’ of what the suspect was wearing, Moore told reporters, but he emphasized that a search for a suspect would continue.”
KABC-TV - Los Angeles: "Two people were shot inside a synagogue in North Hollywood on Thursday"
Montreal Gazette: “Rock-throwing a hate crime: mosque” — “Police slow to respond to vandalism at community centre, Muslim Council says”
— “The smashing of a window at a newly opened Muslim community centre in Côte des Neiges last week should be treated as a hate crime, says Salam Elmanyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal.”
Last defendant in mosque burning pleads guilty
— The Tennessean reports: — “The final defendant in the burning and vandalism of an Islamic center in Columbia pleaded guilty in federal court today.”
— “Eric Ian Baker and two other men were charged with setting fire to the Islamic Center of Columbia in February of 2008.”
— “According to federal officials, Baker admitted that he, Michael Corey Golden and Jonathan Edward Stone used Molotov cocktails to set the fire that destroyed the mosque. He also admitted to painting swastikas and the phrase ‘white power’ on the mosque before it burned.”
— “Stone and Golden pleaded guilty last year and will be sentenced in November. A sentencing date for Baker has not been set. All three face federal prison sentences of up to 30 years.”
Miami: Teens Get Plea Deal In Mosque Vandalism – Police: Teens Slashed Tires, Broke Windows
— Post-Newsweek reports:
— “MIAMI — Two teenagers accused of vandalizing a West Kendall mosque have accepted a plea deal.”
— “Michael Lobo and Juan Carlos Gonzalez were arrested in connection with vandalism in June at the Islamic School of Miami. Investigators said they smashed two windows and slashed the tires of a van used to feed the homeless.”
— “As part of their plea agreement, Lobo and Gonzalez have been ordered to perform 75 hours of community service, and they have apologized.”
— “The leaders of the mosque supported the plea deal in the hope of sending a message of forgiveness.”
Pakistan: Additional Report on Church Burning in Sialkot
— Dawn: Mob sets church set on fire near Sialkot
— “A large number of villagers armed with bricks, stones and sticks attacked the church and set it on fire.”
