The Islamic Center of Tucson wants the college students who live in the high-rise apartment buildings across the street to stop throwing objects onto its property.
It’s been a problem for years, and the most recent incident happened last month. Video footage from the mosque’s security system shows unidentified people dropping boxes from the balconies of the Sol Y Luna apartments, a popular private luxury student housing complex located on the outskirts of the University of Arizona campus.
Security footage from the Islamic Center of Tucson shows boxes being thrown from the Sol Y Luna apartment into the Islamic Center of Tucson parking lot across the street.
A similar situation occurred last fall, when residents in the same complex threw glass bottles and cans from the apartments into the center’s parking lot.
“I have no idea what their objective is,” said Muhammad Zaki, outreach director for the Islamic Center. “Sometimes I feel like when they’re throwing these items, they have something to prove to their friends. These are college students — they’re young adults — they’re not children, so they’re well aware of their actions.”
While it may seem like harmless mischief to the students throwing the objects, Zaki is worried it could lead to more serious consequences, including injuring pedestrians and patrons of the Islamic Center.
Nelson Partners owns Sol Y Luna apartments. “Our team has reported this incident to local law enforcement. We are fully cooperating with local law enforcement during this ongoing investigation,” Ashley Lott, a representative for Nelson, told the Star in an email Friday.
“Additionally, we regularly communicate to our residents about issues related to their conduct, behavior, and their responsibilities of their guests. Our lease agreement strictly prohibits unlawful acts, as well as requiring adherence to all local ordinances and laws,” Lott said. “Violation of these policies have consequences that can lead up to and/or result in eviction. Upon the conclusion of the law enforcement investigation, we will move forward with taking the appropriate actions against the individual(s) identified in the investigation.”
Zaki said that while he understands those apartments are not official property of the University of Arizona, “the university should just go ahead and step in,” because “the Islamic Center has been there longer than many of these students have been alive.”
The UA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The presence of the Islamic Center dates to the 1960s, when UA students founded it, according to the center’s website.
Not ‘who we are’
“We have a Muslim community, and a Muslim student community as well, and we don’t want anyone who’s coming to the center to feel it’s not a safe place because of everything that’s being thrown,” Zaki said.
“It needs to be safe for the general public as well. If you’re on the street and something just flies out of a doorway it could hurt somebody — it could even kill somebody.”
Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik said this is a problem he’s been concerned about for a long time. He said Nelson Properties has not been responsive enough to what’s been happening, so he’s reached out to the city attorney for further assistance.
“I want to talk about the actions we can take to have this property declared a nuisance property and shut it down. That’s the only way Nelson Properties is going to respond — is if we go for the jugular,” Kozachik said. “Even if Nelson is willing to wait for someone to get seriously injured or killed, we’re not.”
Kozachik noted that an estimated 450-500 refugees now live in Tucson after fleeing Afghanistan when the Taliban took control of the country last August.
“They’re over here right now and a lot of them have serious psychological trauma,” said Kozachik, whose office has been directly involved in gathering donations and resettling Afghans in Tucson. “Incidents like this are only going to exacerbate that and make them wonder ‘where can I go?’”
From his view, “the vast majority of this community is completely supportive of the Afghan refugees and the Muslim community reflected by them,” Kozachik said. As for the student-residents seen throwing objects into what’s supposed to be a haven for Muslim community members, that “behavior does not reflect who we are.”
