At Wichita mosque, this man had a gun and made Islamophobic comments, witness says
A 26-year-old Wichita man is in jail and a local Islamic leader is calling for peace after a man reportedly showed up to a Wichita mosque with a handgun and yelled Islamophobic comments at a Muslim man.
Wichita police arrested Dustin Arterburn, 26, Friday on suspicion of aggravated assault and disorderly conduct after he reportedly went to a northeast Wichita mosque while armed with a gun and yelled anti-Muslim comments at a 53-year-old Muslim man.
Arterburn, 26, is also suspected of putting up “concerning posters around the Islamic Society of Wichita,” a news release from Officer Charley Davidson said. Arterburn was being held at Sedgwick County jail Monday afternoon in lieu of a $75,000 bond.
The assault was reported around 5:45 p.m., Friday, when police responded to a disturbance with a weapon call at the Masjid An Noor Mosque, about a block southwest of Wichita State University near 17th and Hillside.
A police report states that the Arteburn was “making racial comments and discriminating against (the victim’s) religion.”
Mahbub Khan, president of Masjid An Noor Inc., said Arterburn was carrying anti-Muslim Charlie Hebdo posters and that he was told by police that the man had been distributing them at the Islamic Society of Wichita near Woodlawn and K-96. In 2015, two Muslim brothers forced their way into the office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper in Paris, and killed 12 people and injured 11 others.
Khan said Arterburn showed up to the mosque and confronted him Friday while “displaying the distorted cartoon of our beloved prophet, slamming the Holy Quran, cursing with profanity, displaying anger, hostile threats against the peaceful religion of Islam.”
Police identified Arterburn as the suspect in both the aggravated assault case and the distribution of posters and arrested him at a home in Derby. Arterburn is from Wichita.
“Arterburn acted alone in these incidents and is not part of any network,” Davidson said.
Khan characterized the assault as “domestic terrorism” and said he hopes it is prosecuted as a hate crime. He is calling for peace during and after the 2020 election, where emotions are high.
“We want to unite the community against this kind of bigotry and hatred,” Khan said.
“We don’t want this to happen to any of the churches or any of the religious organizations,” Khan said. “Our beliefs are the core backbone of the society. You go to a house of worship to worship, not thinking somebody’s going to come with a gun and start shooting. That is un-American.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 3:52 PM.