Over the past year and a half, Ahmed^[1] and his family, residents of King County, have apparently been terrorized and targeted by an unknown person.

It all started on September 27, 2011 when gun shots shattered Ahmed’s apartment window. Ahmed reported this to the police, who believed the shots to be coming from a nearby balcony.

A little over a year later, on November 1, 2012, the same attack occurred: gun shots hit Ahmed’s apartment window. Fearful that he was being targeted, Ahmed again reported the incident to the police with no results.

Two months later, in January 2013, yet again Ahmed’s apartment was shot at, likely from the same nearby balcony. Understandably, Ahmed felt extremely on edge, and scared for his family’s safety.

To make matters worse, his apartment complex refused to fix his window after the third time it was broken, leaving Ahmed with a shattered window and an even less secure home.

On May 9, 2013, Ahmed was targeted again. This time, Ahmed woke up to find that his car window had been shot. Appalled and terrified of what would come next, Ahmed pled to the local police for help.

Captain Hernandez* from his local police department visited Ahmed’s house for a cup of tea to survey the situation. Captain Hernandez informed Ahmed that “somebody’s after you” and said he would do his best to find out who it was. He informed Ahmed that he thought the shots were from a BB gun, not a high powered weapon. He did however remind Ahmed that these attacks did not seem random. Captain Hernandez walked around the property and interviewed residents at nearby apartment complexes to try to find information leading to the suspect. These efforts didn’t resulted in any leads to a suspect, and Captain Hernandez recommended that Ahmed put up a security camera to try to capture the identity of the criminal.

Ahmed then called CAIR-WA to report the incidents and to receive advice about how to protect himself and his family from such attacks. CAIR-WA understood the severity of the situation and the lack of strong police response to match the severity of the case. We met with the Chief and Deputy Chief of the police department to have them take stronger action in this case, and to encourage the police department to reach out to CAIR-WA in future instances of targeting of the Muslim community.

Because Ahmed was so persistent in reporting each attack, the police were able to accurately record the details of each incident his case and are in a better position to find the criminal shooting at Ahmed’s home and his car. CAIR-WA is working with the police department to increase awareness of the incidents in the community and ways in which acquaintances of the shooter can be motivated to come forward and identify the shooter.

If you or someone you know has had a similar experience to Ahmed, please report it immediately to the local police. Then, immediately contact CAIR-WA to report the incident so we can work with you to ensure that the case is given appropriate attention by law enforcement and is resolved. You may contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 206.367.4081.