Muslim students describe fear and USF boosts security after a disruption incident during a morning prayer session.
TAMPA, Fla. — Three men are facing hate-crime–related allegations after police say they disrupted a Muslim student prayer session at the University of South Florida, prompting fear among students and new security measures on campus.
“We thought that we would get our heads kicked in,” Ayaan Khan, a senior at the University of South Florida with the Muslim Students Association, said.
USF Police said the men interrupted a Tuesday morning prayer gathering on the top level of the Collins Boulevard parking garage. “They crossed the line,” Joseph Maurer with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said during a news conference earlier this week.
“We can’t see them and they’re just yelling in our ears, phones in our faces,” Ayaan said. Regarding the suspects, “they were just stomping around us.”
Cellphone video captured the men shouting at students and offering them bacon.
Police announced that Ricardo Yepez, 28, is the latest suspect charged, joining Christopher Svochak, 40, and Richard Penskoski, 49. All three face felony counts of disturbing schools and religious assemblies under Florida law.
The men claim affiliation with a group called the Kingdom Reconcilers Following the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
“We’ve kind of looked at what these people have been doing and they’ve been in Texas, Hollywood, Florida,” Bilal Altakrouri with the Muslim Students Association said. “They kind of do this thing repeatedly where they go and harass young Muslims trying to get a reaction out of them. So they can maybe get a clip, post it on social media and push their Islamophobic propaganda.”
University leaders and law enforcement officials gathered earlier this week to condemn the disruption. “You can say whatever you want but if you’re within inches of somebody in a prone position when they’re in their prayer position, that’s not a safe thing and a safe environment,” Maurer said.
Officials said none of the men are affiliated with USF but do have Tampa-area addresses. The university plans to issue trespass orders to keep them off campus.
“An attack on any of our students is an attack on all of our students,” Ahmed said.
Florida attorney Omar Saleh with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said a similar confrontation occurred in Hollywood Beach just days after the USF incident. “Now what everybody wants to ensure is that this not only doesn’t happen by these individuals but is not a trend that catches on that other people think they can do as well,” Saleh said.
USF said it will increase patrols and boost security visibility at upcoming events out of an abundance of caution.
The Muslim Students Association was going to have Tuesday be their final prayer session of the semester but after what happened on November 18, they will meet once more this week to try and continue further healing.
Previous 10 Tampa Bay News reporting contributed to this story.