Police Find No Hate Crime Evidence In Altercation Involving Islamic High School Student

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Fairfax City Police say there was no evidence that an altercation between two students at Fairfax High School was a hate crime, according a police release. The incident in question sparked a flurry of social media posts, an online petition and a student walkout at the school.

"The police investigation revealed there were no racial comments made by either student," city police said, in a statement released Saturday. "The female student confirmed her hijab became partially undone during the altercation, exposing her hair. The female student advised that the information posted on several social media sites, stating that racial comments were used during the altercation were false."

Even if racial slurs were not used, that doesn't mean it wasn't a hate crime nor that bias wasn't a factor in the altercation, according to Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"Often, Islamic attire is seen as a red flag by bigots," he said. "There's no textbook hate attack and sometimes there are mixed reasons. Islamophobia or bias can be one reason for the incident among many, so you just don't know."

City police began their investigation into the altercation after seeing posts about it on social media. Although police say they found no evidence of a hate crime, the department continues to investigate the physical altercation, according to the statement released on Saturday.

"I've seen lots of cases over the years and very few of them just shout some bigoted statement when they're launching the attack," Hooper said. "Are there tensions based on race in the school that leads to these kind of things?"

Patch first learned about the altercation on Thursday when a student shared a link to an online petition calling on the school to investigate the incident. The petition alleged that racial slurs were used during the fight and one of the students was knocked out and her hijab removed. As of noon on Saturday, more than 19,000 had signed the petition.

On Thursday morning, about 350 students at the high school walked out in protest of what happened on Tuesday afternoon between the two students, according to the school. In response to the walkout, Fairfax County Public Schools and City of Fairfax Schools said they "support the rights of students to peacefully protest."