Police: Notes urging violence against Muslims a hate crime

WESTBROOK, Maine – Typewritten notes urging violence against Muslims discovered at an apartment complex in Maine are being investigated as a hate crime, but there is no evidence of an immediate threat to residents’ safety, police said.

An Iraqi man went to Westbrook police Wednesday morning and told officers that he had found a piece of paper that said “All Muslims are Terrorists should be Killed,” Westbrook Police Chief Janine Roberts said at an afternoon news conference.

Police responded to the apartment complex just outside of Portland and found a second identical note. They also were told that two additional notes had been discovered by Iraqis living there. One was spotted on the windshield of a car, the other three were found on the ground. The threats are being treated as a hate crime.

“The people who have come forward have all been Iraqi,” said Roberts. “We have done a canvas of the complex and of those people that we’ve made contact with, only the Iraqi community has any information in relation to the threats.”

The department is taking the threats seriously, and has set up a meeting Thursday evening with Iraqi community members to try to address their concerns.

The threats came two days after federal court documents unsealed in Portland revealed that Adnan Fazeli, 38, an Iranian who came to Maine as a refugee in 2009, was fighting for the Islamic State group when he was killed last year in Lebanon, the Portland Press Herald reported. Fazeli had lived in the Westbrook apartment complex at one time. Police said it is unknown if the threats are connected to the recent media coverage of him.

“Other than the timing, we have no information other than that,” Roberts told reporters.

Police have no suspects, and are urging anyone with information about the notes to come forward.

“There’s no evidence that there’s a significant threat to people’s safety,” said Roberts. “Other than the strips of paper that were found with this one message on them there is no evidence that there’s anybody lying in wait.”