Source: Chicago Sun-Times
On May 24, 1999, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the mosque at the Islamic Foundation in Villa Park, Illinois was vandalized when a basketball-sized concrete block was thrown through the mosque's windows on the morning of May 15th, 1999. Though the vandals left no sign of anti-Islamic graffiti, members of the mosque believe it was a hate crime because of the size of the rock and the repeated presence of a white van with four teenagers outside the mosque on the morning of May 15th. Religious leaders in the Chicago area have announced their support for the mosque and decried the vandalism. About 20 religious leaders and local politicians symbolically carried the stone out of the mosque on a sheet, re-enacting an episode from the life of Muhammed that quelled a dispute.