--- description: New York police are no longer investigating the attack in which a Muslim woman's clothing was set on fire as a hate crime title: Muslim Woman Set on Fire Not a Target of Hate Crime, Police Say image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d7ade7c40b11514/6988a6288e0601063a467785/muslim-woman-fire-ny-suspect.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Muslim Woman Set on Fire Not a Target of Hate Crime, Police Say by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 15, 2016 12:41 AM CUT  New York Police released a video of a man, seen in this still image taken from that video, suspected of setting fire to a traditionally-dressed Muslim woman as she window shopped on Park Avenue, in New York, Sept. 13, 2016. New York Police released a video of a man, seen in this still image taken from that video, suspected of setting fire to a traditionally-dressed Muslim woman as she window shopped on Park Avenue, in New York, Sept. 13, 2016.New York Police Department/Reuters by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 15, 2016 12:41 AM CUT New York police are no longer investigating the attack in which a [Muslim woman’s clothing was set on fire](http://time.com/4490636/muslim-woman-fire-fifth-avenue/ "undefined") as a hate crime, authorities said Wednesday. Police ruled out a hate crime after suspects in the case were linked to similar assaults on other non-Muslims in New York. The hijab-wearing woman was standing outside a Valentino store on Fifth Avenue Saturday when she felt heat on her left side and noticed her blouse was on fire. She patted out the flames and looked up to see a man standing near her with a lighter. The flame reportedly left a “quarter-sized hole” in her blouse, according to the NYPD. The department initially investigated the incident as a [potential hate crime](http://time.com/4490636/muslim-woman-fire-fifth-avenue/ "undefined"). Upon further investigation, police found that at least three other women were threatened with fire by the same suspects on Tuesday, [Reuters reported](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-muslim-idUSKCN11K2GV "undefined"). The three other women were not wearing clothing that would identify them as Muslim, police said. “The motivation for these crimes is not considered to be ‘bias-related’ at this time,” police said. Police obtained surveillance footage of the suspect. No arrests have been made in the case. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4494451/muslim-woman-fire-no-bias/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4494451/muslim-woman-fire-no-bias/"},"headline":"Muslim Woman Set on Fire Not a Target of Hate Crime, Police Say","datePublished":"2016-09-15T00:41:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:36:17.214Z","description":"Suspects in the case were linked to similar assaults on other non-Muslims","url":"https://time.com/4494451/muslim-woman-fire-no-bias/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d7ade7c40b11514/6988a6288e0601063a467785/muslim-woman-fire-ny-suspect.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d7ade7c40b11514/6988a6288e0601063a467785/muslim-woman-fire-ny-suspect.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"muslim-woman-fire-new-york","caption":"New York Police released a video of a man, seen in this still image taken from that video, suspected of setting fire to a traditionally-dressed Muslim woman as she window shopped on Park Avenue, in New York, Sept. 13, 2016.","creditText":"New York Police Department/Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/4494451/muslim-woman-fire-no-bias/","name":"Muslim Woman Set on Fire Not a Target of Hate Crime, Police Say"}}]}] ```