Granada Hills Woman Believes That Man Who Vandalized Her Car Also Committed Hate Crime
GRANADA HILLS (CBSLA.com) — A Granada Hills woman believes that the man who vandalized her car was also committing a hate crime.
She blames the hateful rhetoric of the election for an increase in crimes against Muslims.
Sumeira Khan talked to CBS2's Laurie Perez about her fears and concerns.
Across the country, the Southern Poverty Law Center has counted more than 700 incidents of harassment in the last two weeks.
Sumeira Khan talked to CBS2's Laurie Perez about her fears and concerns.
Khan believes the man who vandalized her car in a smash-and-grab robbery should be also counted as a hate crime.
She has lived her whole life in North America as a Muslim. She says the atmosphere today, eleven days after Trump became president-elect, has been worse for Muslims -- worse even following the days post 9-11.
Khan is getting her car window replaced, no problen, She said it's her broken *heart* that will take a little more to fix.
"He just saw me in my scarf and his expression immediately changed," she said of the man she believes vandalized her car while she went shopping at a Home Depot in Van Nuys.
Perez spoke with the Khan family at their local mosque. They're nervous to show their home after Khan believes she and her daughter were targeted Friday night as Muslim-Americans,
"I saw him in my rear view he was following me on foot," Khan says.
They say their quick shopping trip began with a disturbing stare down from another customer in the parking lot,
"I knew he was gonna do something cause the intense stare and his anger," she said.
The man, she said, stood for ten minutes near their car watching. He never approached, but Khan says she was not surprised when they came out and found the window broken.
"He almost looked at me like I am going to do something to your car to upset you or do something but I don't care if you know about it," Khan said.
She says LAPD is not investigating the vandalism as a hate crime - Khan says the officers told her they can't say for sure the guy who was staring was the one who smashed the window, and because the suspect didn't say anything to her or leave a note they could not say, for sure, that prejudice was a motivating factor.
But to Khan and her daughter there's little doubt why it happened and why it happened now.
"I'm born and raised in North America and this is our country, too, and we're not going anywhere," Khan said.
"i don't know what's gonna happen in the future," said her daughter Nabihah.
