ST PAUL, Minn. — Morning prayer begins at 6:19 a.m. but Hassan Jama, an elder in the Somali community, says prayer didn't happen on this late-December day.
"I feel sorry and terrified," Jama said through a translator. "We came here for peace and prayer."
Jama says he and another elder arrived at Darul Iman around 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
"I noticed something suspicious, abnormal," he said. "All lights were actually on."
He says they then saw a man near the door. When they tried to stop him, he says the man said, "good luck," and walked away. They believe the man is in his 40s.
"I did not actually have the skills and the language to communicate with him," Jama said.
St. Paul police say, according to the complainants, someone broke into the center, rummaged through an office, and vandalized items inside.
Somali community leaders said they also showed police a cluster of words on the wall, including "Merry Xmas" and "Save your MF soul." There was also a drawing of a face whose mouth appears to be stitched up.
"That tells me actually the person came for a reason and he left a message," board member Hassan Hade said, "'Save your soul' tells a lot and that's the most part that scares the community, including us. That's a threat. Nothing else."
St. Paul Police say they're investigating this as a "bias-motivated crime." They plan to increase patrols at all of the city's Islamic centers and mosques.
City council member Jane Prince represents the ward where the vandalized community center is located.
"We're taking it very seriously," Prince said. "It's one really damaged human being that would do this. We haven't seen this prior to this in our community here."
But Somali leaders say earlier this week they discovered the glass broken on one of the front doors. They didn't report it at the time but say they have now informed police.
"It's not a mosque on the street," Somali activist Omar Jamal said. "This is in the corner, an angle. They must have done some homework to find out where it is and also the timing."
The community center usually offers weekend classes to around 250 kids but classes were canceled Saturday.
Moving forward, plans involve making repairs and installing new cameras. Leaders say that could cost up to $7,000. A GoFundMe was created to help reach that goal.