Huge Crowd At Lake Anne Plaza Expected Wednesday Night For Nabra Hassanen Vigil

RESTON, VA — The Reston community will be gathering at Lake Anne Plaza Wednesday night to honor the memory of 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen, who police say was murdered over the weekend in a road rage-fueled attack.

The Reston teen's killing set off nationwide outrage over what initially appeared to be a hate crime against a Muslim girl walking near her mosque, but Fairfax County Police say that her religion didn't appear to have anything to do with her death. Instead, police say -- controversially -- that 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres attacked her with a bat after a road rage incident involving Hassanen and a group of her friends.

The vigil will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 21 at Lake Anne Plaza. Organizers ask that participants bring flowers instead of candles.

As of around 11 a.m. Wednesday, around 1,400 said they were going and 2,500 said they were interested on the event's Facebook page.

"This evening, people from across the region will stand together in love, compassion, support, and comfort for the stricken family of young Nadra Hassanen, brutally murdered and torn from this world not four days ago," reads a statement. "We invite you to join us in Reston, from whatever part of the region you're in, and bring your families, your friends, and your neighbors. We'll stand to honor Nadra, comfort her family, and rededicate ourselves to our young people, and to building a future of reconciliation, harmony and peace fit for them to grow up and to live in."

Also on Wednesday, funeral services are being held at the ADAMS Center in Sterling for Hassanen.

Hassanen's friends and classmates of the South Lakes High School Muslim Student Association are organizing the vigil.

"It's especially important for people from outside the Muslim community, from the full diversity of people across the region, to come," the statement adds. "This is a time for us to surround her family with love, stand for one another, and with one another, to reach out together to Nadra's family, and to unite in our compassion for them, and in our resolve to build a world where such horrors are unknown."

Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler will attend the vigil. He will be there with Imam Mohamed Magid of Hassanen's mosque, the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, to talk with members of the media and community beginning at 5:45 p.m.

"We know this is an incredibly difficult time, especially for our Muslim community," according to a statement from Fairfax County Police. "Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. met today with leaders from the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS Center) including Imam Mohamed Magid and Chaplain Joshua Salaam. The Chief assured them we will continue to diligently investigate the case and provide our support. We have a long-standing relationship with the ADAMS Center, and our hearts go out to everyone in our Muslim community and beyond for this tragic crime."

Police have been criticized for characterizing the killing as a road rage incident instead of as a hate crime, but they have stuck with that description.

Martinez Torres, who remains in jail, faces a July 19 court date.

Image of Hassanen's locker at South Lakes High School courtesy Kahlil Dover