30 Cars Vandalized at Falls Church Mosque

Update - 9:30 p.m. Saturday: Local police say they are not classifying the vandalism at a hate crime, but they are investigating.

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After finding 30 cars vandalized Saturday morning outside the mosque in Falls Church, religious leaders are holding a candlelight vigil at 7:15 p.m. outside the building.

In a press release, Johari Abdul-Malik, Imam at the mosque, said the individuals responsible for the vandalism assumed the vehicles belonged to members of the mosque.

Abdul-Malik said the mosque is requesting the FBI investigate the incident as a hate crime.

The Washington Post reported members of the mosque were in an early prayer service and exited the building to find the vandalized vehicles. No written slogans were found outside the mosque, the Washington Post reported.

According to the Washington Post, Washington-based civil rights group the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for the FBI to investigate the vandalism in Falls Church as well as another vandalism incident Friday in Harrisonburg, Va.

The vandalism follows a tumultuous few days in the Middle East following the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, along with three members of his staff. The four Americans were killed by a group of militants, U.S. officials say.

Protests at U.S. embassies have been held in Libya and several other countries since, sparked by an online video mocking Muslims that depicted the Prophet Mohammed as "a child molester, womanizer and ruthless killer," CNN reported.