Last month, the front desk staff of the Islamic Center of Southern California received phone calls from a Mark (Milosz) Feigin of Agoura Hills, who made threats against the ICSC. He called two days in a row, and also posted hateful messages on our Facebook page (which we immediately took down).
ICSC staff reported the threatening calls to the LAPD, which evaluated Feigin’s phone calls and Facebook postings and assessed that a crime of “criminal threats” and a separate hate crime had been committed.
Law enforcement tracked down Feigin and arrested him last week. Upon arresting him, they also searched his home and found a cache of weapons and ammunition.
Feigin soon after made bond and was released from jail. He is currently free, awaiting his arraignment in early November.
And this is where we, the leadership of the ICSC, want to speak to all of you, our community.
As we all know, given the Presidential election cycle, the anti-Muslim rhetoric by certain media outlets, and other world events, there are individuals who unfortunately harbor hate and fear towards Islam and Muslims, born out of ignorance and suspicion.
As a community, we should stand tall and be resilient; we should be proud of our faith, proud of our mosque, and proud of our country. We should act sensibly to protect ourselves and not allow fear and hate to infect our character, or cause us to withdraw. As always, we are empowered by the love and support of our vast network of interfaith, civic, government and law enforcement partners who stand with us.
As a precaution, the ICSC has put in place extra ordinary security measures to ensure the safest possible facility for you and your family, as we continue our regular programs without interruption. Armed uniformed and non-uniformed security will be in place for the foreseeable future. LAPD’s Olympic Division has stepped up patrols in and around the ICSC, and more steps are being taken that we do not wish to disclose.
At the end of the day, God is the protector of us all. It is to Him we make supplication to protect us from any harm.
We thank you, our community for your dedication to the ICSC, and we look forward to having the Center serve generations to come. We also thank our diligent staff for their service and professionalism in handling this challenging situation.
May God guide us all as we strive only in His cause.
This is an official statement of the Islamic Center of Southern California.