Arsonist Sets Escondido Mosque on Fire. Graffiti Refers to New Zealand Attacks

Police on Monday were searching for an arsonist suspected of starting a fire at a Southern California mosque and leaving graffiti referencing the recent deadly attacks at two mosques in New Zealand.

Nobody was hurt, and members of the Islamic Center of Escondido (also known as Dar Ul Arqam Mosque) managed to put out the small blaze using a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived, officials said. The fire, which began around 3:15 a.m. on Sunday, left minor damage to the mosque’s outside facade.

The incident was being investigated as arson and a possible hate crime, said police in the city about 30 miles north of downtown San Diego. Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting with the investigation.

Graffiti was found in the parking lot referencing the shootings earlier this month that killed 50 people at mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, police Lt. Chris Lick said. He did not elaborate about what it said, but noted an accelerant was used to set the fire — though he couldn't say which kind, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

No suspects have been identified, Lick said, and uniformed officers were providing additional patrols in the area. Lick didn’t respond to a KQED email and phone call seeking an update on the investigation.

Dustin Craun, head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in San Diego, said people were participating in a spiritual retreat in the mosque on the night of the fire, so they were present when it started. Yusef Miller, who attends each of the mosques, said from five to seven people were in the building at that time, and were about to get up for morning prayers when they noticed something was wrong.

“We're on a heightened alert,” Miller said. “Nobody thought that that kind of thing would happen here in Escondido.”

Miller said the Sunday before, he’d hosted an interfaith vigil for victims of the New Zealand attacks near the Escondido mosque.

“It was kind of worrisome that one week later, on the following Sunday, that someone tried to set fire to that mosque and left some kind of message,” he told KQED. “When it hit home … it sent chills down everyone's spine.

The Escondido mosque, one of three in the city of about 143,000 residents, formed about four years ago, said Miller.

"When you attack any sanctuary, it is an attack against all of us," he said at an interfaith prayer vigil on Sunday night at the mosque. It's an attack against our humanity."

Miller said authorities removed the scorch marks from the mosque as well as the graffiti. He said the center would remain open: “We're still resolved to practice our faith no matter what happens.”

Craun told KQED that some 250 people attended the vigil.

"It is disturbing enough that some sick individual would attempt to burn a house of worship to the ground, but referencing the slayings in New Zealand is beyond the pale," he said separately in a statement. "While the majority of humanity has responded to the tragedy to draw closer to one another and refute hatred, a violent and hate-filled minority seeks further divisions."

KQED News' Miranda Leitsinger, City News Service, NBC San Diego and The Associated Press contributed to this report.