CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Police in South Carolina have arrested a 20-year-old college student accused of spray painting graffiti onto the outside of an Islamic center.
Casey Logan Delre was booked into the Charleston County jail on Friday, The Post and Courier reported. He and another suspect, Hailey Elizabeth Riddle, 18, both face a charge of malicious injury to a place of worship.
A caller reported to police late last month that someone had vandalized the exterior of the Islamic Center of Charleston with the words “utterlly blessed” in pink and blue writing, according to a Charleston police statement. Security video showed two people at the scene around 3:30 a.m., and police released video stills asking the public for help identifying suspects. A Crime Stoppers tip led authorities to arrest Riddle last week, then Delre, police spokesman Charles Francis told news outlets.
Riddle’s attorney said his client admitted to making the graffiti but contended that Delre didn’t know the brick building was a place of worship, according to the newspaper.
In a comment on the vandalism, College of Charleston President Andrew Hsu said the school “condemns any act of aggression, hatred or disrespect toward any individual or place of worship based on religious affiliation,” news outlets reported.
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