Salaam said the community is struggling because Nabra was beloved by so many, and so well known for her kind spirit.
Police have charged 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres of Sterling with murder, which they said appeared to be motivated by road rage. Many gathered to pray for the teen whose death has gone viral on social media as people call for her murder to be investigated as a hate crime.
Police say they have no evidence that Torres's actions were motivated by hate or discrimination. They said Martinez Torres beat Hassanen as her friends scattered, then put her in his auto, assaulted her again and dumped her body. Police believe one teen on a bike began arguing with Martinez Torres as he approached the group in his auto.
Authorities confirmed Nabra was assaulted twice before her death - once in Loudoun and once in Fairfax - and confirmed they were investigating whether she was sexually assaulted during one of those attacks.
Beyond the tougher potential punishment, formally attaching the hate-crime label in court can signal to the broader community that certain heinous acts are different due to their intended impact.
On Sunday, the teen had been with a group of friends after an overnight service at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS Center).
Most of the mourners were Muslim, but Christians and Jews attended as well.
Thousands of members of Washington D.C.'s Muslim community attended the funeral of Nabra Hassanen, 17, on Wednesday. A vigil also is planned for Wednesday in Hassanen's hometown of Reston, Virginia.
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He'd told a family member he was traveling to Washington without providing any additional information, said Slater. Hodgkinson had been in email contact with the two Democratic senators from IL , he said.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had on June 19 issued a detainer for Torres, a citizen of El Salvador, and who is in the US illegally, according to the Daily Caller.
At the ADAMS Center Tuesday, Chaplain Joshua Salaam said Hassanen was a attractive and thoughtful young woman who encouraged her friends to "give to people who are in need, even if it's your last dollar", and to "befriend people who other people don't like".
While there is yet no evidence Nabra was targeted because she was a Muslim, Sharif said she has been "more careful" since the fatal attack. Martinez-Torres was appointed a public defender and spoke through a Spanish translator when answering questions put to him by a judge in county jail.
Salah has lived in the verdant suburban community since 1985, and said she typically leaves her door unlocked because it's so safe.
"I think it was definitely scary for everyone in our area and Muslims in general", Salehi said.
Virginia investigators are calling Hassanen's beating death a road rage incident, but Muslim women at the vigil were skeptical of that assessment.
Hassanen's father, Mohmoud Hassanen Aboras, was present at the press conference but spoke only very softly and through the ADAMS Center's Executive Imam Mohamed Magid. After that, the police found her remains five kilometres away from the location of the incident.
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