Man charged with arson in Houston mosque fire

The suspect, Gary Nathaniel Moore, 37, of Houston, appeared in court at 7 a.m., spokeswoman Nicole Strong said.

The conference will take place at in the City Hall rotunda, 901 Bagby Street at 1 p.m.

The Houston mosque fire on Christmas 2015 has resulted in the arrest of a man who allegedly prayed there every day.

He is being held at Harris County sheriff’s jail on $100,000 bond.

A recent study found that hate crimes targeting Muslims, their mosques and businesses have tripled this year with most of the incidents occurring in recent weeks.

USA Today reported that no one was injured in the blaze, but 200 people were inside at the time.

While indicating that a motive for the alleged arson was unknown, an ATF official declared that “there’s no evidence that it was a hate crime”.

He told fire officials that he was the last person to leave the building at around 2pm on Christmas Day and did not see or smell smoke. A search warrant of his home was conducted, in which investigators recovered a backpack and clothing that seemingly matched that which was seen in surveillance footage, as well as one half of a two-pack of charcoal lighter fluid bottles that seemed to match another lighter fluid bottle found inside the mosque.

Moore told investigators he had attended the mosque for five years, coming five times a day to pray, reported The Houston Chronicle.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also looking into the incident, according to local news reports. And although the motive still remains unclear, authorities say that the man was a devout worshiper at the mosque. He also told an investigator that he worshiped there.

‘We are really very surprised and saddened by this whole thing, ‘ Mr Khan said.

It added that Islam has become “a central issue in the 2016 presidential campaign, with GOP frontrunner candidate Donald Trump putting for [sic] policy ideas that would ban all Muslims from entering the United States”.