As Ramadan worshippers were leaving a Surrey, British Columbia, mosque last Wednesday night, a car sped by and threw a substance, which turned out to be water, at them.

Shortly afterward, the vehicle returned and "repeatedly feigned trying to run the congregants over," according to Vancouver City News.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police immediately began an investigation into this anti-Islam attack.

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart condemned the attack in a Twitter post. He wrote that he "stands with our neighbours from Surrey's Jamia Masjid Mosque. Islamophobia, racism, and hatred must be called out and stamped out."

I can't imagine how terrifying this must have been. I know everyone at the City of Vancouver feels the same and stands with our neighbours from Surrey's Jamia Masjid Mosque.

Islamophobia, racism, and hatred must be called out and stamped out.https://t.co/d8onTKK7sS

— Kennedy Stewart (@kennedystewart) April 29, 2022

The National Council of Canadian Muslims posted a series of tweets decrying the attack. In the first, they included a letter from the British Columbian Muslim Association.

The group was "gravely concerned" over the attack. The letter referenced a "hate-motivated" incident that had occurred in London, Ontario, last summer. An individual driving a truck had deliberately struck and killed a Muslim family.

We are gravely concerned after an attack on worshippers close to a mosque in Surrey, BC.

In the aftermath of what happened in London, where an individual ran over a family with his vehicle, the incident with a car outside the mosque is gravely concerning. pic.twitter.com/KPK5MB5o7H

— NCCM (@nccm) April 28, 2022

The clip below shows the car returning.

From outside a mosque in Surrey, B.C.

This is a clip from a larger video, where an individual was driving away after appearing to feign striking worshippers leaving a mosque with a vehicle.

We are urging @rcmpgrcpolice to investigate as potentially hate motivated. pic.twitter.com/fWQ0wdKqvF

— NCCM (@nccm) April 29, 2022

The NCCM tweets continued.

We need to do more. And we need to do it now.

— NCCM (@nccm) April 28, 2022

In another, the group acknowledged the police hadn't identified the suspects yet, but claimed the incident should be "investigated as potentially hate motivated" anyway.

While we cannot confirm at this point whether the attack was motivated by Islamophobia, we join the call of the BCMA that this incident be investigated as potentially hate motivated.

— NCCM (@nccm) April 29, 2022

Outrage over this act of hate and expressions of solidarity with the Muslim community reached a fever pitch.

I’m disgusted by the reports of an attempt to terrorize and harm people outside Surrey Jamia Masjid Mosque as they left prayers. I stand with those targeted and the Muslim community. We must condemn acts of hate and racism wherever we see them. https://t.co/2rSv6BtrEb

— John Horgan (@jjhorgan) April 29, 2022

Until ... the RCMP determined that the perpetrators were members of the Muslim community themselves.

The Vancouver Sun reported the RCMP had concluded the incident had not been a racially motivated hate crime. In a Saturday news release, the RCMP stated: “The investigation found that this was not a racially motivated hate crime. All occupants of the suspect vehicle were teenagers who are part of the Muslim community.”

With zero evidence one way or the other, everyone involved had immediately jumped to the conclusion this was a hate crime.

The mayor, above all others, should have reserved judgment until the RCMP had completed their investigation. Yet he immediately took to Twitter to denounce those who committed this "terrifying," Islamophobic act.

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His premature condemnation was both dangerous and foolish. His unwise tweet no doubt stoked racial tensions in the city. It also perpetuated the lie that the West is wildly intolerant and racist, and set the stage for reprisals.

Additionally, the more often crimes are initially thought to be hate-related, then turn out not to be, the more likely those originally blamed for the (fake) hate will begin to dismiss the idea that hate is worth worrying about. Or worse, that maybe hate is justified.

These fools are poking the stick of imagined racism at the slumbering giant of actual racism. And if they awaken it, we're all in for a very, very, very horrible lesson in what racializing everything does.

The Western Journal contacted Mayor Stewart's office for a comment but has not yet received a reply.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.