Rambling call about ‘9/11’ was threat to Charlotte mosque, Islamic Center leader says
A caller made a reference to 9/11 and “terrorists” in what the Islamic Center of Charlotte this week called a direct threat to the mosque.
Tuesday’s call was similar to threats the center has received on its voicemail “from time to time,” but the center’s manager answered the call and told the person he was recording the conversation, center spokesman Jibril Hough told The Charlotte Observer.
The caller rambled on incoherently despite being told of the recording, but he was clear and direct in his threat against the center, Hough said.
Hough released an audio recording of the call to the Observer and other media outlets, along with two South Carolina phone numbers that were apparently in on the call.
According to a short audio recording of part of the call, the person or people on the end of the line make what sounds like sexual remarks or jokes. The audio shared with the Observer is garbled, due to the sound quality of the call and recording. At one point, the caller is heard saying “I’ll blow you harder than 9/11.”
Hough says his staff was told by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer taking a report this week that the call was “untraceable.”
The Observer, however, used public records available online to find the phone numbers Hough recorded are associated with residents of Anderson and Inman — both in the Greenville-Spartanburg area of Upstate South Carolina.
And we were able to speak to one of them — who ultimately apologized.
Man apologizes
A man who answered one of the numbers Wednesday told the Observer he was at work at the time of the call and the number must be wrong.
A man who answered the other number said a 14-year-old family friend in his office “did something stupid” by calling the Islamic Center.
The man, who identified himself only by a first name of “Dave,” said the call to the center “was inappropriate” but that he didn’t believe the 14-year-old “made any type of threat.”
The man soon texted the Observer an apology related to what happened.
“I do issue a sincere apology for what was said,” the man texted. “I would like the center to know it was very inappropriate and that it will be made known to any parties involved it absolutely will never happen again.”
Told of the man’s apology, Hough said: “If he’s sincere, it’s well received.”
Will law enforcement respond?
Still, Hough said, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department needs to follow up by at least visiting the caller’s address to show, just by an officer’s presence, how seriously the department treats such calls. And the department should help ensure the caller receives counseling, he said.
“But our community doesn’t think (such threats) are taken as seriously as they should be” by law enforcement agencies, Hough said.
“We deserve better than what we’re getting,” Hough said about the response of law enforcement agencies to such calls.
CMPD’s public information office didn’t reply to a request for comment from the Observer Wednesday.
Hough said he will also notify the FBI of the call.
“The FBI takes reports of violence very seriously,” Shelley Lynch, spokeswoman for the FBI Charlotte office said in an email. “We work closely with our law enforcement partners to assess and respond to threats to keep our community safe.”
The FBI encourages the public to report crimes to tips.fbi.gov; 800-225-5324; or your local law enforcement agency, Lynch said.
This story was originally published May 24, 2023 at 3:29 PM.