SANTA ANA, Calif.–The day after al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a raid in Pakistan, anti-American graffiti was found today scrawled on a freeway sound wall in Westminster.
The graffiti was found alongside the San Diego (405) Freeway between Springdale and Goldenwest streets, depicting an upside-down U.S. flag and 3-foot-high black spray-painted letters that read “RIP Osama Forever,” Westminster police Cpl. Van Woodson said.
Above the flag, the vandal spray-painted, “Unamerican,” Woodson said.
“The officer who took the report said it was pretty detailed,” so investigators hoped there were witnesses, Woodson said.
Westminster police alerted the FBI and Homeland Security officials, Woodson said.
“Anything of a suspicious nature that may involve some extremist message we do share up the chain,” Woodson said.
Westminster police, like all Southland law enforcement agencies, were onheightened alert in response to the death of bin Laden.
Anaheim police stepped up patrols around the city’s mosques and businesses in the “Little Arabia” neighborhood when they heard about a couple of threats at mosques elsewhere in the country, Anaheim police Sgt. Rick Martinez said.
“Just to ensure nothing happens and no one targets anybody specific, we told our guys to keep extra patrols of our mosques and any businesses in the Arab community,” Martinez said.
Otherwise, Anaheim police were being vigilant, but have not experienced any threats at Disneyland or anywhere in the city today, Martinez said.
“We’re remaining vigilant and reminding the public to do the same thing–don’t let your guard down,” Martinez said.
Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said there were no incidents, aside from the vandalism in Westminster, in Orange County today, but sheriff’s deputies have extra phone lines open to field calls.
In Anaheim, the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights organization, welcomed news of bin Laden’s death.
“We join our fellow citizens in welcoming the announcement that Osama bin Laden has been eliminated as a threat to our nation and the world through the actions of American military personnel,” according to a statement from the group.
“As we have stated repeatedly since the 9/11 terror attacks, bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam. In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and al-Qaida caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide.”
