--- title: Houston Mosque Fire: No Evidence of a Hate Crime description: But the fire remains suspicious canonical: https://time.com/4163600/houston-mosque-fire-hate-crime/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-29T20:49:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:41:15.646Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Officials Say No Evidence Houston Mosque Fire Was Hate Crime og:description: The fire occurred on Christmas day og:url: https://time.com/4163600/houston-mosque-fire-hate-crime/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Officials Say No Evidence Houston Mosque Fire Was Hate Crime twitter:description: The fire occurred on Christmas day twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Officials Say No Evidence Houston Mosque Fire Was Hate Crime by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 29, 2015 8:49 PM CUT by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 29, 2015 8:49 PM CUT Federal officials say there’s no evidence that a recent fire at a Houston mosque was a hate crime. Officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives [told KHOU 11 News](http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/2015/12/29/atf-no-evidence-mosque-fire-hate-crime/78025226/ "undefined") that there’s not evidence that the two-alarm fire is part of a hate crime. Houston Fire Department investigators say the cause of the fire does not appear to be an accident. Firefighters responded to the fire on Christmas Day. [As TIME previously reported](http://time.com/4161571/arson-suspected-in-christmas-day-mosque-fire-in-houston/ "undefined"), the fire looks suspicious since the fire had multiple points of origin, and arson is a possibility. Other businesses besides the mosque were damaged. No injuries were reported. Investigators are continuing to work around the clock, KHOU reports. \[[_KHOU_](http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/2015/12/29/atf-no-evidence-mosque-fire-hate-crime/78025226/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4163600/houston-mosque-fire-hate-crime/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4163600/houston-mosque-fire-hate-crime/"},"headline":"Officials Say No Evidence Houston Mosque Fire Was Hate Crime","datePublished":"2015-12-29T20:49:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:41:15.646Z","description":"But the fire remains suspicious","url":"https://time.com/4163600/houston-mosque-fire-hate-crime/","keywords":["Crime","fire","Houston","Hate Crime","Mosque"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4163600/houston-mosque-fire-hate-crime/","name":"Officials Say No Evidence Houston Mosque Fire Was Hate Crime"}}]}] ```