BELLEVUE, Wash. — A fire severely damaged the Islamic Center of Eastside in Bellevue for the second time in just over a year.
Center spokesman Omer Lone tells KOMO the building has been vacant since the last arson as they try to secure funds to restore the building, and believes this is another arson.
“There’s nobody inside, it’s fenced, it’s sealed, there’s no electricity, there’s no gas, so there’s no possibility at all that it would happen by itself,” he said.
A homeless man pled guilty to setting the mosque on fire in 2017, and police don’t believe that was a hate crime.
Crews are still investigating what caused Wednesday’s fire.
