Just a month after the Mashni family lost a son, it now must deal with a new kind of grief.
The Tinley Park family on Thursday received an anonymous hate letter in the mail, postmarked Wednesday from the Bedford Park regional post office.
It reads, "Muslims go home to your country. You are not welcome in our community. Is your weekends training for making bombs? How many bomb experts you have living with you? Muslims get out NOW."
"I think it is sickening," Kamal Mashni said. "Whoever wrote it has to be from the neighborhood. I don't even know any of them (neighbors). That's the funny part."
Mashni, his wife and their sons moved into their home in the Brementowne subdivision in mid-May, a week before the couple's 21-year-old son died from seizure complications. Since his death, the house has been filled with family and friends on weekends, Mashni said.
Mashni speculated that a neighbor might be upset about the number of cars parked near the family's home.
"I make sure they don't block driveways," he said.
Tinley Park police are investigating the letter as a hate crime, which is a felony, and likely will team with postal inspectors next week, police Cmdr. Rick Bruno said.
"This reminds us that there are still tiny minds out there, unfortunately," Bruno said.
Mashni said he and his family did not want to make a big deal out of the letter and considered throwing it away but reconsidered.
"If he did it today, he'll do it tomorrow," Mashni said of the author. "Hate is hate, I don't care about race or religion. Islam and Muslims are not terrorists. ... I'm an American citizen, and my kids are American citizens. I have been in this country since 1976, probably since before he (the author of the letter) was born."
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/023abn1.htm
The Tinley Park family on Thursday received an anonymous hate letter in the mail, postmarked Wednesday from the Bedford Park regional post office.
It reads, "Muslims go home to your country. You are not welcome in our community. Is your weekends training for making bombs? How many bomb experts you have living with you? Muslims get out NOW."
"I think it is sickening," Kamal Mashni said. "Whoever wrote it has to be from the neighborhood. I don't even know any of them (neighbors). That's the funny part."
Mashni, his wife and their sons moved into their home in the Brementowne subdivision in mid-May, a week before the couple's 21-year-old son died from seizure complications. Since his death, the house has been filled with family and friends on weekends, Mashni said.
Mashni speculated that a neighbor might be upset about the number of cars parked near the family's home.
"I make sure they don't block driveways," he said.
Tinley Park police are investigating the letter as a hate crime, which is a felony, and likely will team with postal inspectors next week, police Cmdr. Rick Bruno said.
"This reminds us that there are still tiny minds out there, unfortunately," Bruno said.
Mashni said he and his family did not want to make a big deal out of the letter and considered throwing it away but reconsidered.
"If he did it today, he'll do it tomorrow," Mashni said of the author. "Hate is hate, I don't care about race or religion. Islam and Muslims are not terrorists. ... I'm an American citizen, and my kids are American citizens. I have been in this country since 1976, probably since before he (the author of the letter) was born."
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/023abn1.htm