Arson is suspected at the burned family center building at the Quba Islamic Institute in southeast Houston.
The fire started at about 5:30 AM on Friday morning.
Chron.com reported:
Ahsan Zahid, assistant Imam, walks through the charred Quba Islam Institute after it burned Friday morning, Feb. 13, 2015.
Arson is suspected in a fire that burned an Islamic center Friday morning in southeast Houston, a son of the imam said.
Ahsan Zahid, 25, said arson investigators with the Houston Fire Department told him that an accelerant was used in the fire that broke out about 5:30 a.m. at Quba Islamic Institute at 730 FM 1959 near Gulfstream Park.
Zahid, a political science student at the University of Houston, said two working theories are being pursued. The fire was started to intentially damage the building or it was started by a homeless person who broke in to the building because of the cold.
Ken Parker, a spokesman for the fire department, said investigators have not determined a cause and have not released information about a possible arson.
Officials said the blaze burned what appeared to be an addition at the back of the main building. The addition was heavily damaged. The building was closed at the time of the fire, and no one was inside. No injuries were reported.
There are three buildings on the property. The mosque, the school, and this separate storage building.
If this was a hate crime, as some are clearly trying to imply, wouldn’t the mosque and school have been targeted, in addition to or rather than the storage shed?
