Police have made an arrest for the murder of 17-year old Nabra Hassanen.
The search for Nabra began Sunday, June 18 after she was reported missing by some friends. They claimed that Nabra had disappeared after the group of Muslim girls got into an altercation with a driver in the parking lot of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Virginia.
BuzzFeed reports that Nabra and her friends were coming back from a break during Ramadan prayers when a car pulled up and a man with a baseball bat jumped out and started swinging at the group of girls.
The altercation occurred at around 3:30 A.M. on Sunday after the group grabbed breakfast at a nearby town center before beginning their Ramadan fast.
As they scattered, Nabraย was lost in the shuffle. The group reported her missing at around 4:00 A.M.
Her body was recovered Sunday afternoon by police in Sterling.
As they searched, authorities stopped a motorist “driving suspiciously in the area” and arrested the driver, who was later identified as identified as Darwin Martinez Torres, 22. Torres has been charged with her death.
UPDATE: Suspect in Herndon missing teen investigation taken to jail. Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, of Sterling, has been charged with murder. pic.twitter.com/JGBxXmdqUf
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) June 18, 2017
A police spokeswoman told reporters the attack followed some sort of dispute between the man and the girls, and authorities recently announced that they are not investigating the murder as a hate crime.
Nabra’s friends, family and many others are mourning her tragic death. A GoFundMe account was set up in order to raise funds for Nabra’sย funeral costs.
My baby is gone ๐ I love you so much babygirl, may you rest in paradise habibti. I love you ๐ Allah yer7mek Nabra.
— Reeeem (@_reemyyy10) June 18, 2017
17yo Black muslim Nabra was brutalized & murdered by a man w a baseball bat after the man drove up to the girl walking to the mosque RIP! ๐๐พ pic.twitter.com/HS0jRBpYBS
— ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ (@girlswithtoys) June 19, 2017
"I lost my daughter, my first reason for happiness.โ @JulieZauzmer reports from apartment of 17 yo Nabra Hassanen: https://t.co/s3QVXqtbef pic.twitter.com/5ScIibkC4V
— Faiz Siddiqui (@faizsays) June 19, 2017
17 teen year old #Nabra had…
dreams
goals
passions
hobbies
friends
classmates
sadly she was killed after leaving a Virgina Mosque. pic.twitter.com/Cd0R6t3OqE— Mohamed Salih (@MohamedMOSalih) June 19, 2017
Nabra was the sweetest person ever always lit up the room when she'd walk in. Crazy that the worst things happen to the best people
— Lina (@lolaalina3) June 19, 2017
Nabra’s death preceded the Muslim mosque attacks on Monday morning in which a van hitย worshippers leaving a mosque, killing at least one person and injuring several in what Britain’s largest Muslim organization said was a deliberate act of Islamophobia.
According to AOL, the number of anti-Muslim bias incidents in the United States jumped 57% in 2016 to 2,213, up from 1,409 in 2015, the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group said in a report last month.
