Alleged hate crime probed in Tinley Park

Amal Abusumayah was paying for her groceries when she said she felt a sharp tug on her headscarf.

When she looked at who had pulled her hijab, Abusumayah saw a woman who moments ago had made a comment about Islam.

"I was shaken up," Abusumayah said of the Nov. 7 assault. "This is my dignity and this is my religion."

Tinley Park police are investigating the report as a hate crime, Police Chief Michael O'Connell said.

But that's not the only one.

Another Tinley Park family said they woke up Sunday to find derogatory terms written on their home. Both incidents happened just days after Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas.

Abusumayah said the woman who tugged her scarf said, "The guy that did the Texas shooting, he wasn't American, and he was from the Middle East." Hasan, an American citizen, was born in Virginia.

Abusumayah said she ignored the comment. She was checking out when the woman tried to pull off her headscarf, she said.

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