US: Nabra Hassanen slaying leaves doubt about motive in Muslim community

Virginia detectives say the beating death of a teenage Muslim girl appears to have been a case of road rage, but the case has left doubt among Islamic leaders who say it looks too much like a hate crime.

Virginia detectives say the beating death of a teenage Muslim girl appears to have been a case of road rage, but the case has left doubt among Islamic leaders who say it looks too much like a hate crime.

People hold up signs during a vigil in Washington, DC, on June 20, 2017, for Nabra Hassanen, a 17-year old Muslim girl that was killed in a road rage incident on June 18. A tight-knit Muslim community in the suburbs of Washington was in shock after the 17-year-old girl was apparently beaten to death and dumped in a pond following late-night prayers at the local mosque. Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, have charged a 22-year-old local man, Darwin Martinez Torres, with the teenager's killing but said it was an apparent road rage incident. / AFP PHOTO / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS (AFP Photo)

Police say 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen was bludgeoned with a baseball bat early Sunday by a motorist who drove up to about 15 Muslim teenagers as they walked or bicycled along a road.

A funeral service is planned for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday for Hassanen at her northern Virginia mosque, the All Dulles Area Muslim Society. A vigil also is planned for Wednesday in Hassanen’s hometown of Reston, Virginia.

Twenty-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres is being held without bail on a murder charge in the slaying.

The incident is not being investigated as a hate crime.