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FBI called to investigate reported UW campus attack on Muslim student

Community leaders are calling on the FBI to investigate what they are concerned may be a hate crime against a Muslim-American woman on the University of Washington campus.

The woman reported that she was hit by a man who struck her with a glass bottle earlier this month.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for attack.

University of Washington police shared the incident report with KIRO 7, which shows that an officer was called to the scene within two minutes of the incident on Nov. 15.

The report states that at 5:47 p.m. on Nov. 15, 19-year-old Nasro Hassan said she was approaching the northeast doors of Mary Gates Hall.

Here's the full story >> http://kiro.tv/UWReportedAttack A University of Washington Muslim American female student reported being assaulted earlier this month by a man who struck her with a glass bottle. An interfaith community is now speaking to us from Red Square about their concern that this may have been a hate crime.

Posted by Natasha Chen CNN on Monday, November 28, 2016

The incident report continues: “She was walking and looking down at her cellphone when the suspect cocked his arm back and hit her with a glass bottle on the right side of her cheek near her eye.”

She told the officer she could only describe the suspect as a male, wearing a black sweatshirt.

Police said the Seattle Fire Department was called, but Hassan declined to be taken to the hospital. Her supporters said Monday that she later saw a doctor.

In a photo shared with KIRO 7, Hassan is seen with a bruise under her right eye.

Hassan initially scheduled an interview with media on Monday, but said she had to reschedule due to an unfinished school assignment due that evening.

Mina Sultana, a co-president of the university’s Muslim Student Association, said, “I was honestly shocked, because this attack happened in broad daylight, in the middle of campus, in an area that has a lot of heavy foot traffic.”

Sultana said she is also upset by the lack of information released to the student body.

“It’s unacceptable that updates and communication from UW PD have been minimal to non-existent since the attack,” Sultana said.

UW police Major Steve Rittereiser said the department follows federal standards on when to issue immediate warnings to the campus community. He said there are 13 crimes that trigger timely warnings, including aggravated assault.

However, the incident involving Hassan is considered a simple assault.

Rittereiser added that the department will also warn the community when there seem to be multiple occurrences of similar crimes.

“In this particular case, we have this one isolated incident. We don’t have – we haven’t attributed any other case similar to this on the campus or in the area around us,” he said.

UW police investigators have contacted the FBI to inform them of the incident and to see if other similar cases have happened in the area. An FBI spokesperson told KIRO 7 they take these cases seriously and will offer guidance, but that the investigation will be done by the responding agency.

Rittereiser said that the department has not determined whether this is a hate crime.

“We investigate this with a very open mind, in terms of what the motivation would be,” he said.

He said that the term "hate crime" is applied depending on the intent of the assailant. In this case, the assailant is unknown and was not reported to have said anything prior to the attack.

Earlier this month, at University of Washington’s Bothell campus, several Muslim students reported that they were approached by men who demanded that they remove their hijabs.

Chancellor Wolf Yeigh said the school will not tolerate the “abhorrent” behavior.

>> Related: Possible hate crime against Muslim women investigated on UW Bothell campus

“This is not only a violation of the women’s right to practice their faith, it is also a clear violation of our values at UW Bothell,” he wrote in a letter to the campus community. “This is a serious offense.”

"We will not tolerate this kind of behavior. You should not tolerate it either. If you see it, or experience it, report it. Tell someone—a friend, a faculty member, Safe Campus, or Campus Safety, so that we can aggressively follow up," he wrote.

At the time of the letter, Yeigh wrote UW Bothell was in the process of creating a bias response form for anyone on campus who has experienced, or been a witness to, an incident of bias or discrimination. This form will be available to the campus community within the next few days.

The UW reports follow similar reports of incidents since the election that resulted in a win for Donald Trump.

“I am so saddened to hear that,” Trump said. “And I say, ‘Stop it.’ If it — if it helps, I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: ‘Stop it.’”

Stahl told Trump that his supporters had been writing racist slogans or sending degrading messages, particularly in schools. But the Republican also criticized the rash of protests that have broken out since he defeated his Democratic opponent, blaming the media and "professional protesters."

Trump told Stahl he has seen “a very small amount” of racial slurs being directed at minorities since his election.

“I would say don't do it, that's terrible, because I'm going to bring this country together,” he said.

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