Surveillance footage provided exclusively to BuzzFeed News.
Two teenage Muslims boys were viciously beaten outside a Brooklyn mosque early Sunday morning as their attacker called them terrorists, according to Mohamed Bahe, the director of the mosque.
The incident allegedly happened around 1:18am at the Muslim Community Center of Brooklyn in Sunset Park, after lengthy evening prayers common during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Police initially said they had no record of the incident, however photos provided to BuzzFeed News showed multiple officers and police vehicles at the scene.
After repeated calls from BuzzFeed News on Sunday, a police spokesperson eventually confirmed the incident occurred and described it as a "non-bias incident."
Bahe said the mosque has repeatedly asked for more police protection of the mosque to no avail.
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According to Bahe, when the two teenagers came back to the mosque after getting a snack they encountered a tinted and suspicious vehicle on 53rd St., near the corner of 3rd Ave — the side entrance to the mosque.
Bahe says the teenagers were suspicious of the vehicle after a number of incidents involving prostitution and drugs consumption on the streets, which he said were common to the area.
“We had two volunteers, and they saw a suspicious car parked outside of our entrance. They looked at the car, trying to figure out who’s inside. They saw a woman and they asked asked if she needed help. Then all of a sudden a guy comes across running from the street and punches him and knocks him down. He was stomping him and kicking him,” said Bahe, citing surveillance video from the mosque, also provided to BuzzFeed News.
Bahe says the other teenager, who originally ran away when the attack began, heard the assailant yell, “You fucking terrorist,” as he punched and kicked the first boy.
“The other kid tries to come back and the guy punches him, too,” Bahe said.
Bahe says that’s when people inside the mosque heard the commotion and came outside, causing the assailant to flee on foot.
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The mosque director said he recognized the assailant from surveillance footage as a local man, who he said is aware of the mosque and its congregants.
When BuzzFeed News reached out to the New York Police Department’s Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information (DCPI), a spokesperson was not initially able to find any incident from the 72nd precinct logged in their system from Sunday morning.
However, the same spokesperson later confirmed the incident occurred.
"This incident did happen in the vicinity of a mosque to two individuals of muslim faith," the spokesperson said. "This is going to be classified as a non-bias incident."
"These two individuals were standing outside of the vehicle with a woman who I understand was dressed quite provocatively," he said. "They were not in any Muslim attire.
"The hate crimes unit did interview both victims, who said the suspect didn’t say anything anti-muslim to them," he said.
Bahe, the mosque director, rejected this assertion from the NYPD spokesperson.
"This is a blatant cover-up," he said, alleging that police had only spoken with the severely injured man who was first beaten.
Bahe said Captain Emmanuel Gonzalez of NYPD’s 72nd precinct visited the mosque on Sunday to apologize for not sending any units to their mosque during Ramadan and that his department are taking the incident seriously.
A photo purporting to show Captain Emmanuel Gonzalez visiting the mosque.
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The 72nd precinct referred all calls from BuzzFeed News to DCPI.
Bahe says that he has repeatedly asked the NYPD’s 72nd precinct for additional detail and security measures for the mosque, citing the month of Ramadan and rising anti-Muslim incidents in the country.
One of the victims suffered a concussion as a result of the attack, according to a Facebook post by Muslims Giving Back, a nonprofit associated with the community center in Brooklyn that feeds the homeless and runs a food pantry.
In the Facebook post, one of the victims is seen on the ground with a swollen and bloody eye as he is tended to by other mosque congregants. Another photo shows blood on the roof of a car.
Another photo posted in the comment section of the Muslims Giving Back Facebook page also showed the black eye of the second victim who “fought off the attacker.”
This latest assault comes after an uptick in anti-Muslim assaults and incidents in the last few months.
On Saturday, a Muslim man was beaten outside the Fort Pierce Islamic Center in Florida, where Oman Mateen, the gunman who opened fire at an Orlando nightclub and killed 49 people, reportedly attended. A suspect was arrested.
On Wednesday, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, two Muslim men were shot in what police are investigating as a hate crime.
LINK: A Man Was Beaten Outside The Same Mosque The Orlando Shooter Attended
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