WISCONSIN – A Muslim student at the University of Wisconsin-Stout passed away on Monday, October 31, one day after being attacked near campus, in a crime that shook the community as a sign of anti-Muslim hate spread across the country.
“Our deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers go out to Hussain’s family in Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, and his friends at UW-Stout,” Stout Chancellor Bob Meyer said in a statement cited by The Washington Post on Tuesday, November 1.
“I want to make a personal appeal to anyone on campus or in the community who might have information that would help authorities locate the individual involved in the attack to come forward.”
Hussain Saeed Alnahdi, 24, was outside Topper’s Pizza in downtown Menomonie, Wis., where the university is located, early Sunday morning when he was assaulted by a suspect whom police described as a white male about six feet tall, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.
Alnahdi was found shortly after this unconscious and bleeding from his mouth and nose.
He was initially transported to Mayo Clinic Health System in Menomonie, then taken by helicopter to Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, where he died of his injuries, police said.
The Muslim student, originally from Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, came to the Wisconsin university in 2015 to study business administration.
Witnesses cited by WEAU-TV said that they saw a man attack Alnahdi at about 2 am Sunday on Main Street East.
The attacker ran away, leaving Alnahdi unconscious and bloodied, the TV station reported. When police arrived, witnesses said, he regained consciousness before being taken away.
The incident was condemned by the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which identified Alnahdi as a Muslim and tweeted that it was “monitoring his death.”
The UW-Stout International Relations Club said in a Facebook post Monday that Alnahdi was a member.
“We pray for his family and friends that they may be comforted at this time,” the club’s public relations officer said.
Bethany Risler, an admissions counselor at the university, wrote that she recruited Alnahdi and that they had exchanged emails while he was still learning English.
“My heart is breaking for his family. May he rest in peace,” she said.
Racially Motivated 
The Muslim student’s death stoked fears that the assault may have been racially motivated.
“I absolutely loved teaching the Saudi students who have come to Stout,” Genesea M. Carter, an assistant professor in the university’s English and philosophy department, wrote on Facebook.
“Now I am deeply worried about my Saudi students’ safety.”
Others said they were bracing for the worst amid rising hate rhetoric across the country.
“If this is a hate crime, we will need to rally in peace, Menomonie,” one user wrote.
“The hate that has spread through our country is so sickening,” wrote another.
Alnahdi’s death comes at a time when Muslims in the United States have expressed deep concern that they will be the target of hate crimes.
Over the past months, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been accused of fueling anti-Islamic sentiment, pointedly calling for Muslims to be prevented from entering the United States in December last year.
The rhetoric has made a surge in anti-Muslim attacks.
In a 2015 hate crime statistics report, 16.1 percent of 1,140 religious hate crime victims were Muslim, up from previous years, despite the fact that overall hate crime numbers among other religious groups were declining, the FBI said.