Deer Park community near mosque on edge over anti-Islam graffiti

A Deer Park community is on edge after someone scrawled anti-Islam graffiti on more than a half-dozen stop signs within walking distance of a mosque.

The vandalism was first spotted by a neighbor, who later informed him, Deer Park resident Jawad Khan told Newsday, adding he was shocked to see multiple stop signs defaced. 

"When I saw the first one I thought, ‘OK, someone’s probably just joking around,’ " said Khan, who attends the mosque, the Islamic Center of Deer Park, on Grand Avenue. "Then I saw a second one and then I saw another and it seems like someone purposely did all of the stop signs."

The defaced signs are about as close as a four-minute walk from the center, also known as the Deer Park masjid, or mosque.

"I’ve been in this neighborhood since 2011 and I never thought something like this would happen," he said. "It’s sad, it’s disgusting. It’s hard to live here and know someone here has this much hate in their heart."

Khan said he notified both the police and Babylon Town officials.

The Suffolk County Police Department confirmed to Newsday that detectives with its Hate Crimes Unit were notified about the graffiti on a stop sign on Commack Road at 11:39 a.m. Wednesday. A spokeswoman said she had no other information.

Ryan Bonner, spokesman for the Town of Babylon, said after the town was notified about the signs, employees with the department of public works came to remove the graffiti.

"We will not tolerate this hate and intolerance in our town," Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer said in a statement to Newsday. "The graffiti on these stop signs has already been removed, and we will continue working with our law enforcement partners to hold those responsible accountable."

Deer Park has long had a vibrant Muslim community, with immigrants from Turkey first settling in the hamlet, followed in more recent years by those from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Ammad Sheikh, 48, of Plainview, used to live in Deer Park and has watched as more Muslim residents and business owners have made their home there.

"Deer Park is a very, very fast-growing Muslim community, on Long Island," he said. "I would classify it as one of the hubs now."

He said the neighborhood where this happened has both Muslims and non-Muslims and is "a very tight-knit community."

"Deer Park has a lot of young families with children," Sheikh said. "What kind of message does this send to them?"

Khan, 49, said one of the stop signs is at the corner where his three children wait for the school bus.

"I didn’t feel comfortable with them seeing that," he said. He had a discussion with his children, who range in age from 10 to 18, and said "they were disgusted" by it. "I'm worried about my children's safety. They play basketball outside and walk to the bus stop."

He said the neighbor who told him about the signs, who is not Muslim, reported the vandalism to the town. He said she also told him she would cancel a planned Fourth of July block party this summer out of fear neighbors would be targeted.

"She said she didn’t want to have any problems in the neighborhood or have anyone do anything bad so she wanted to cancel it," he said.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.