(CNN) — The Minneapolis Police Department is investigating a hit-and-run pedestrian crash at a mosque as a potentially targeted and biased crime while searching for the suspect who fled the area, Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Wednesday. .
The 36-year-old victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital, according to a police department news release.
Just before noon Wednesday, the man was in the parking lot of the Alhikma Islamic Center in south Minneapolis retrieving items from his car when a minivan drove toward him at a high rate of speed, police said. He tried to run when the driver of the minivan swerved and hit him, according to police.
“Based on the information gathered by our investigators so far, I am concerned that this crime may have been motivated by bias,” O’Hara said. “We will not tolerate any crime in our city. But hate crimes and crimes against our places of worship are particularly troubling because of the widespread and very real fear they generate and the potential division they create among our residents.”
Officers are working to locate the suspect and the truck, according to the release. Police patrols have also been reinforced in the area to protect those entering and leaving the place of worship. According to O’Hara, Police Department leadership is in communication with the imam and mosque staff, as well as community leaders.
Investigators are familiar with the suspect, O’Hara said, as he has a “history of breaking and entering and acting erratic at the mosque and in the neighborhood.”
CNN has reached out to the Minneapolis Police Department for more information about the investigation.
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says the victim is one of its employees who was attacked by a man who CAIR says has harassed the mosque and worshipers many times over the past three years.
“This apparently intentional attack outside a religious institution should be investigated as a possible hate crime,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR-Minnesota. “We urge that security and surveillance be intensified in Islamic institutions across the state.”
The department describes the suspect as “a black male, light complexion, in his 30s, wearing a brown shirt and black glasses” and driving a 2002 Silver Windstar minivan. The investigation and search for the suspect is ongoing and the department has asked the public for information.
The hit-and-run comes a little more than a year after a man allegedly set fires at two Minneapolis mosques. Damage likely amounted to tens of thousands of dollars, according to an affidavit against him.
Last month, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said it received 8,061 complaints of anti-Muslim bias incidents in 2023, the highest number in the 28 years CAIR has tracked hate.
