'Road Rage' May Have Caused Muslim Teen Nabra Hassanen's Death
Police said the death of Muslim teen Nabra Hassanen was not being investigated as a hate crime, but instead, as an incident of road rage. Hassanen’s body was discovered Sunday afternoon in a Virginia pond after the teen went missing following an altercation in the early hours that morning.
Hassanen and a group of friends were walking and biking to a nearby mosque after having eaten a large meal before beginning to fast for Ramadan when they were approached by a red car, police said. Darwin Martinez-Torres reportedly got into an argument with the group of teens and drove his car up onto the curb, causing the teens to scatter. In the ensuing confusion, he abducted Hassanen and assaulted her with a baseball bat, police said.
Read: Who Is Darwin Martinez Torres? Suspect Arrested In Muslim Teen Nabra’s Murder
“There was no indication of any racial slurs or any back and forth other than a verbal argument,” Police Lieutenant Bryan Holland said Monday.
After realizing they could not locate Hassanen, her friends contacted authorities. After a subsequent search involving police dogs, helicopters and officers from two counties, Hassanen’s body was found in a pond about three miles from the scene of the original confrontation. Although all the teens present at the time were wearing Muslim head coverings and robes, police said it did not appear as though a hate crime took place.
“Nothing indicates that this was motivated by race or by religion,” Fairfax County police spokeswoman Julie Parker said at a news conference Monday. “It appears the suspect became so enraged over this traffic encounter that it escalated into deadly violence."
Police found Martinez-Torres driving suspiciously near the scene of the encounter. Officers declined to say why they became suspicious of him or what evidence they recovered but arrested him at the scene.
“His anger over that earlier encounter then led to violence when he hit Nabra with a baseball bat,” said Parker.
Many, however, have said they don’t believe the alleged murder was not motivated by religion.
“He killed her because she’s a Muslim – this is what I tell the detective,” said Hassanen’s father, according to the Washington Post. “Why was he running behind the kids wearing Islamic clothes with a baseball stick? Why, when my daughter fell down, why did he hit her? For what? We don’t know this guy. He doesn’t know us. We don’t hate anybody because of religion or color. I teach my kids to love everybody.”
Prominent Muslim activist Rabia Chaudry agreed with Hassanen’s father.
Read: Florida Neo-Nazi Turned Muslim Claims He Murdered Roommates To Prevent Terror Attack
“Road rage. Indeed,” Chaudry tweeted Monday. “If you think for a minute that her appearance had nothing to do with this crime, you’re lying to yourself.”
Martinez was arraigned Monday and was set to appear in court July 19. Authorities said they believed he was in the United States without proper documentation and was a citizen of El Salvador.
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