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The mosque that Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen attended was heavily damaged in an arson fire that Muslim leaders said was the latest incident in an escalating campaign of harassment and violence against the house of worship and its members.


Given the timing — Sunday's 15th anniversary of 911 and the start of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha — investigators believe the blaze that broke out shortly before midnight Sunday at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce may have been a hate crime Ron Santo Jersey , St. Lucie County sheriff's spokesman Maj. David Thompson said.

　　In this photo provided by the St. Lucie Sheriff\'s Office, firefighters work at the scene of a fire at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce on Monday, Sept. 12, 2016, in Fort Pierce, Fla. (St. Lucie Sheriff\'s Office via AP)

No one was injured. The fire burned a 10-by-10-foot (3-by-3-meter) hole in the roof at the back of the mosque's main building and blackened its eaves with soot.


A surveillance video from the mosque showed a man on a motorcycle approaching the building with a bottle of liquid and some papers, then leaving when there was a flash and shaking his hand as though he may have burned it, Thompson said.