(RNS) — Days after the holy month of Ramadan began, shootings targeting an imam in Utah and an Islamic center in Pennsylvania have rattled Muslim Americans as they look forward to weeks in which they gather frequently and in large numbers. 

In Utah, a gunman shot multiple rounds at the spiritual leader of the state’s largest mosque in West Jordan, south of Salt Lake City, missing the clergyman as he left his home Monday evening (Feb. 23). The attack at the Pike County Islamic Center in Pennsylvania occurred one day earlier, hours after worshippers had finished congregational prayer.

No one was harmed in either incident. Police in both locales are investigating motives and have not arrested any suspects.

Advocates have warned recently that Islamophobic rhetoric from political leaders can make targets of Muslims and their houses of worship.

“No one will be surprised if those attacks turn out to be incidents of anti-Muslim hate,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “We have to see what the police investigations finds, but the fact that no one would be surprised by it is a sign of the fact that anti-Muslim bigotry is out of control.”

Imam Shuaib Din of the Utah Islamic Center told Religion News Service he is nearly certain the attack was targeted. The individual followed him after he drove away from his home around 7:30 p.m. Monday and fired several shots, he said. 

“He knew where I lived, he knew my schedule, knew the make and model of my car, and then he came after me,” Din said. “It’s not like a drive-by shooting or random shooting.”

The gunman was parked outside of his home waiting for him, Din said. His daughter parked behind the gunman’s car at least an hour and a half before the shooting. And with the gunman not yet in custody, Din said he still worries about his safety and the safety of his family members. “But there’s a spillover into the community who are also worried,” he said. 

When he led prayers at the Utah Islamic Center the night after the shooting, he said attendance was slightly lower. The mosque, which Din has been an at imam for 19 years, has 800 to 1,000 regular attendees. 

 The Utah Islamic Center said in a statement that heightened security measures will be put in place, adding, “May Allah (SWT) protect our Imam and our community.” The statement asked the community to pray “and avoid speculation.”

Police spokesperson Sgt. Michael Olsen said police don’t have “anything to suggest that this was a hate crime,” but given Din’s role as a prominent Muslim leader, investigators are not ruling the possibility out.

CAIR is offering a $5,000 reward “for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect” in the Utah case. Din also said the mosque received supportive messages from churches and political leaders, including a representative from the Utah governor’s office who plans to visit Din on Wednesday evening.

The mosque in Pike County, Pennsylvania, near the Delaware Water Gap east of Scranton, was empty when the shooting occurred. Community member Mohammed Alhomsi said in a Facebook post that he had joined the congregation for taraweeh prayers hours earlier at the mosque with his wife and his 8-year-old daughter.

“By the grace of God no one was hurt,” wrote Alhomsi in his post. “Powerful shots were fired, which penetrated through the walls, doors, chandeliers, side doors, front doors.” 

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro condemned the “violence targeted at our Muslim neighbors.” In a statement, he said he would visit the mosque Wednesday to break fast and celebrate Ramadan with the Muslim community. “The vandalism of a house of worship of any kind has no place in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro wrote. 

CAIR’s Philadelphia chapter has offered its own $5,000 reward relating to that state’s mosque shooting. 

Earlier in February in Los Angeles, a woman was arrested for spraying hateful graffiti and trying to set a small fire near the entrance of Islah LA, an Islamic center and mosque. 

According to a 2025 report, CAIR identified 40 incidents “explicitly targeting Islamic institutions, including mosques” in 2024. The Muslim advocacy organization did not list any incidents where shots were fired directly at a mosque that year.