Assalamu Alaikum Brothers and Sisters.

A number of you have probably heard about the incident that happened several blocks from the Islamic Center on South 13th Street yesterday afternoon.  The news media has broadcast a story this evening.  A number of Board Members and administrators of the ISM were present during the interview.

The following is what happened:
Yesterday following Fajr prayer, a sister from our community (a former employee of the ISM) was walking to her home which is a few blocks away from the Masjid.  As she was walking south on 13th Street, she crossed Barnard Avenue (which is across the street from the remote ISM parking lot).  She was alone and no one was around.  Unfortunately, people had not yet left the Masjid after Fajr prayer, so she was alone.  She has been making this same walk for many, many years without incident.

As our sister crossed Barnard Avenue, a young, average sized, possibly Hispanic male came out of his car, yelled out at her and approached her.  He then grabbed her head and removed her hijab and began to attack her. She is a petite woman in her late 50's.  She tried to resist.  Her nose began to bleed from the hits she suffered.  Besides punching and kicking our sister in the head and back while she was on the ground, he also had a knife.  The jacket she was wearing has a long vertical cut in the back and also a cut on the arm of the jacket.  Our sister suffered a cut on her arm that, alhamdulillah, was not serious.  As expected, she was terrified.  The attacker did not ask for money nor did he take her phone.  The attacker then returned to his car and sped off.  

Somehow, our sister was able to make it home.  She tried calling someone but was not able to reach that person.  At this point, it appears she may have suffered a seizure (she had been recently hospitalized for seizures) and passed out in her home.  Fortunately, some time later, our sister received a call from another sister in our community to remind her of an appointment she had later that morning.  She informed this sister that she had been attacked.  The sister came down to see her and she called 9-11. Our sister was transported to St. Luke's hospital.  When the police arrived at the hospital, they were not able to speak to her because she was sedated (given medication to sleep).  She was released from the hospital today. The police interviewed her at her home and there will be additional interviews and investigations in coming days.  

The ISM has remained on top of this issue and is in communication with law enforcement agencies.  We consider this to be a hate crime and an attack against our entire community.  Although the ISM has a security system and security procedures in place at the Islamic Center, this incident reminds us all that we must be very careful wherever we are, especially if we are in areas where there are no people or when it is dark.

Although this is the first very serious incident that we have experienced in the Milwaukee area in over a decade, we ask all people, especially our sisters, to be careful in public.  

We have requested additional police patrols in the neighborhood and we have instituted other precautionary measures.  Insha' Allah this is an isolated incident, but we must remain cautious and vigilant.

We will keep you informed of any important updates.

Jazakum Allah Khair.

ISM Shura and Administration