Anaheim Police and FBI Reach Out to Local Muslim Community One Week After San Bernardino Massacre
Updated: Sep 4, 2020
"Good evening, Salaam Alaikum."
Anaheim police chief Raul Quezada introduced himself to Muslims gathered at a forum yesterday with the dual greeting. In company with FBI investigators and his own top brass, Quezada led discussions aimed at addressing numerous concerns facing local Muslims. Last week, somebody left bullet-riddled English-language Qur'an at the doorstep of an Islamic fashion store in Anaheim. The next day, in an unrelated incident, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a married Muslim couple, killed 14 people in the San Bernardino Massacre. Following the tragedy, Republic front-runner Donald Trump called for banning all Muslims from entering the United States. Troubled times, indeed.
The forum took place at the Brookhurst Community Center in West Anaheim, not too far from where Farook's family had lived in the city for a number of years. Records obtained by the Weekly show that Farook's father rented an apartment at the nearby Tara Hill complex from September 1997 to January 2001. Anaheim school records confirm that a young Syed Farook attended elementary school at Gauer and Magnolia before enrolling at Brookhurst Junior High (where I was once a Spartan, too) during those years. Without mentioning this background, Anaheim police nevertheless gave an update on the San Bernardino Massacre investigation. "Currently there is no known connection to Anaheim," deputy chief Julian Harvey said.
Read more on my latest OC Weekly News Blog post:
http://www.ocweekly.com/news/anaheim-police-and-fbi-reassure-local-muslims