A Muslim girl aged 17 is believed to be murdered after she was abducted by a man as she and her friends were walking to a suburban Virginia mosque for Ramadan prayers, police said.
According to Fox News, the victim identified as Nabra Hassanen, was found Sunday in a pond in Sterling, Virginia.
The same day they arrested a 22-year-old Sterling man after a traffic stop and charged him with her murder, said Tawny Wright, spokeswoman for Fairfax County Police.
Authorities are waiting for the medical examiner to make a final determination of the girl’s identity and how she died before releasing her name, Wright said.
But a statement sent to CNN from the Virginia Lt. Governor’s office said that “detectives and relatives believe the body found is Nabra Hassanen.”
While the episode has shaken the local Muslim community, Fairfax police say they are not investigating the girl’s killing as a hate crime.
Wright told CNN that “detectives didn’t receive an indication during their interviews” that the attack was a targeted or racially biased incident.
