Original Article on New York Daily News
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A South Carolina man has been arrested for setting fire to a memorial for slain Virginia teen Nabra Hassanen.
Washington D.C. residents gathered at the capital’s Dupont Circle on Tuesday night to grieve the 17-year-old, who was walking back to her mosque in Fairfax County when she was attacked and possibly sexually assaulted by a road rage driver.
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D.C. police confirmed to the Daily News that officers were called Wednesday morning after fire was set to the memorial at a fountain.
A spokeswoman said that Jonathan Solomon, a 24-year-old from South Carolina, had been arrested just after 10 a.m., and added that “at this time, the incident does not appear to be motivated by bias.”
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Sgt. Anna Rose, who said in a statement that the fountain did not suffer any permanent damage, did not have information on why Solomon was in D.C. or around the memorial to the Virginia teen.
Nabra was walking back to the mosque for late night prayers with her friends when she was attacked early Sunday morning, and the fact that she was wearing traditional Muslim clothing made her family suspect that her death was a hate crime.
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However, Fairfax County Police said Monday that Darwin Torres, a 22-year-old El Salvador native suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, appeared to be motivated by road rage rather than hatred towards Nabra’s faith.
Torres allegedly argued with one of the boys with Nabra and chased the teens with a baseball bat before catching and assaulting his victim.
