SUNRISE, FLORIDA – A woman was arrested by Sunrise Police on Sunday after she allegedly made several verbal threats against a local mosque.
Irina Bihary was taken into custody after someone inside the mosque called to report her.
“She just had very abnormal behavior of asking very strange questions and texting,” said Rabia Khan, the school principal.
The incident took place just hours before the mosque was set to host members to end their daily fast for Ramadan at sunset.
According to a police report, two people saw Bihary enter a prayer room at the Islamic Foundation of South Florida where she took out a cell phone with an exposed battery and an object that was wrapped in a brown paper bag.
Bihary, 40, was asking questions about the upcoming prayer service but then began telling witnesses that they were all going to die.
“I can’t stand this place,” she told them, according to the report. “I can’t wait to knock it down. I don’t care if we all die here today and if everything blows up, we are all going to die anyways.”
Bihary left and returned in the afternoon, and that’s when board member Sheryar Wahid spoke with her in the lobby.
Wahid went to call police and Bihary tried to make a fast getaway in her car.
Police arrived arrived just in time and blocked her car inside the mosque parking lot.
A bomb squad was called in, as well as FBI agents and a police dog.
The mosque was evacuated before authorities began to search the building and Bihary’s 2006 Mitsubishi.
According to the police report, the brown paper bag was found in Bihary’s car but the cellphone was not located.
No bomb was found, but Wahid says everyone has been on edge since the Orlando mass shooting a week ago by a gunman who pledged allegiance to ISIS.
While being held in the back of a police car, Bihary kicked one of the back doors and eventually bent it outwards. Police estimate the damage to be worth at least $1,200.
Bihary was taken to the Florida Medical Center for a psychological evaluation. She was arrested before for threatening to stab a neighbor at her Lighthouse Point apartment building.
After facing a judge this week, Bihary was granted a $50,000 dollars bond. Once she is released, she’ll be fitted with an electronic monitoring device.She was charged with criminal mischief and possession of a hoax bomb.
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