Des Plaines Mosque Threatened By Rollerblader With Backpack

DES PLAINES, IL — A man wearing a backpack rollerbladed into the Islamic Community Center of Des Plaines and made a bomb threat Wednesday, Feb. 16, telling bystanders "everything here will be blown up Friday," according to President of the Islamic Community Center of Des Plaines. Des Plaines police suggested the alleged threat was not credible, but criminal charges may be filed after the man is released from psychological evaluation.

"We have been here almost 30 years and we had never had a threat to our mosque," said Fazal Mahmood, President of the ICC Des Plaines.

In response to concern from parents about the threat and a lack of security, the community center shut down school for Thursday and Friday and another nearby Islamic center was put on soft lockdown, according to Mahmood.

The mosque will maintain its regularly schedule Friday with heightened security, he added. Des Plaines police were "very helpful" and the department maintains a "good relationship" with his congregation, he said.

Des Plaines Police Chief Bill Kushner said the man was interviewed and taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge for a psychological evaluation.

"If you look at the totality of this thing, it’s not a credible threat,” Kushner told the the Chicago Sun Times. “I think it’s blown out of proportion.”

The reported threats come at a time of heightened concerned among Muslim communities only two weeks after 14 people were shot, six fatally, at a Quebec City mosque. A 27-year-old man with a history of right-wing online commentary has been charged with multiple counts of murder for that attack, which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described as “a terrorist attack on Muslims”.

On Thursday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations Chicago held a press conference at the mosque, mentioning the Quebec City attack, as well as to raise concerns about an upcoming Des Plaines library event presented by a group the Southern Policy Law Center describes as "the largest grassroots anti-Muslim group in America."

"We have a history of getting violent attacks from people who have been reported to the police multiple times," said CAIR Communications Coordinator Hoda Katebi. In a recent case in Rodgers Park, she said, a man police described as mentally unstable was reported five times before he physically assaulted a victim.

Top Image: A man who allegedly trespassed and threatened the Islamic Community Center in Des Plaines Wednesday. (Courtesy CAIR-Chicago)