Police: Vandalism at west Wichita mosque is gang-related

Graffiti spray-painted onto the side of a west Wichita mosque is gang-related but doesn’t appear to be aimed at Muslims, a Wichita police official said Tuesday.

The graffiti is under investigation, police Lt. Jeff Gilmore said.

The vandalism occurred sometime Friday or Saturday at 3406 W. Taft at the mosque owned by the Islamic Association of Mid Kansas. The same mosque had been the target of arson in 2011 that caused an estimated $150,000 in damage.

Gilmore said he was confident that whoever put up the graffiti “had no idea” the building was a mosque where Muslims pray but found the side of the building and a board fence to be a “large canvas” for gang-related symbols.

The black spray-painted images were put onto the white siding of the mosque and the fence along Taft, east of West Street and north of Kellogg.

Gilmore, head of the police gang unit, wouldn’t say which gang was involved.

The damage from the vandalism was estimated at $500.

Police see a rise in graffiti when the weather improves and when school is about to start “and people are going to start marking their territory again,” Gilmore said.

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Police: Vandalism at west Wichita mosque is gang-related."