Fire guts Prior Lake mosque; cause remains under investigation

The cause of a middle-of-the-night fire at a Prior Lake mosque and school is still unknown but Islamic region leaders have sought mosques across the state to be alert A neighbor called Scott County dispatchers at a m Monday alerting them to a fire at Timber Trail S E in Prior Lake according to a news release from the Prior Lake Fire Department Prior Lake fire crews responded and were on the scene at a m and met with visible flames coming through the roof according to the fire department The department declared that firefighters were pushed outside the building due to the extent of the fire and that a portion of the roof subsequently collapsed The fire department stated that no one was in the building upon arrival and no injuries to the community or firefighters The structure formerly housed a Christian church The Masjid Hamza Al-Mahmood Foundation doubles as the Baitul Hikmah Academy Group leaders at a news conference outside the mosque on Monday afternoon explained the school serves more than children Because it is a religious institution a full inspection will be completed by the state fire marshal and the U S Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives the fire department declared The Prior Lake blaze followed President Donald Trump s current immigration crackdown against Minnesota s large Somali locality The president has linked the enforcement action to a series of fraud cases involving state governing body social services programs in which various defendants have roots in the East African country Trump last week labeled Minnesota Somalis as garbage and announced he didn t want them in the United States The president s actions come as Republicans have stepped up their criticism of Gov Tim Walz the Democratic vice presidential candidate for his alleged failures in preventing the fraud It s already a major issue in the gubernatorial race as Walz seeks a third term Jaylani Hussein executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations CAIR for Minnesota declared at the Monday news conference that alerts have been sent to mosques throughout the state as a safety precaution even though we still do not know the nature of this We do not know exactly what happened here but the state of Minnesota continues to lead in the nation in attacks against mosques Over -plus incidents and arsons Hussein revealed Like I reported we don t know exactly what happened here We hope that it s just an accident Hussein revealed CAIR estimates roughly attacks on mosques in Minnesota over the past four years with of those in alone He added that while there is a lot unknown about Monday s fire what he does know is that there s elevated fear and anxiety for the Muslim group in Minnesota And that s not new but that s been part of the main story that we ve been dealing with for the past week and a half Hussein disclosed Related Articles Judge wants whistleblower to testify in contempt probe of Trump official over planes to El Salvador Area group St Paul police use of force against protesters violated plan Pregnant immigrants held for months in detention despite rules against it ICEBlock app maker sues Trump administration over its pressure on Apple to remove app Judge orders the release of an immigrant with ties to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt