Authorities in both Texas and Nashville are investigating recent incidents of theft at numerous Buddhist temples.
Members of the Buddhist community are expressing alarm and calling for an FBI investigation, reports NBC in Dallas-Ft. Worth.
Authorities in White Settlement outside Ft. Worth are working with both local communities and several other states that report similar burglaries.
Fox 4 reports that police in Ft. Worth and Irving are investigating break-ins in their area as well.
Investigators told NBC DFW a crime ring may be faking interest in prayer and distracting monks to steal money.
“I feel sad — you should come here to pray, to be nice to the people,” said member Sulee Adams.
KXAN reports a temple in Austin, TX has also been hit.
“We [are] really scared,” said a member of the temple who did not want to be identified. “We just have security cameras. We do not have a way to protect us again through force and maybe violence.”
In Nashville, TN, police are asking for the public’s help to identify five people who attacked a Buddhist monk in South Nashville, according to WKRN. That attack occurred Sunday at the Wat Lao Buddhist Temple on Old Hickory Boulevard.
The suspects in that case are a man and four women, one who was holding a child.
“They’ve always been very good neighbors, peaceful,” said Charles Pickneywho lives across the street from the temple. “It’s kind of like a little campground where people can come on Saturday night and kind of enjoy being with their friends from their temple and all, but never any problems.”
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
Happy Lunar New Year. We are now 40% of our goal of meeting our $5,000 matching grant challenge with less than 8 full days to go. Every donation will be matched dollar for dollar through February 16 up to $5,000. All donations will go toward fully funding an editor position at AsAmNews and to support our reporting. You can make your tax-deductible donations here via credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Venmo. Stock donations and donations via DAFs are also welcomed.
Please also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X.
