An Indiana man convicted of starting a fire in a Perrysburg, Ohio mosque over two years ago asked the community to forgive him in a letter sent from prison.
Randy Linn sent the letter in December, but Islamic Center of Greater Toledo council president Cherrefe Kadri only recently found the words to respond.
On September 30, 2012, Linn entered the mosque and set fire to the prayer room. He was armed with a gun, but no one was inside the building at the time.
The mosque's sprinkler system was activated, and the smoke and water caused over $1.4 million in damage to the property.
Linn, a Jehovah's Witness, said he was upset over terrorist attacks orchestrated by Islamic extremists, and was under the influence of Prozac and alcohol.
He admitted that his life is now in shambles.
"My wife, she left me," he told the Toledo Blade by phone. "She filed for divorce the day I did it, and I haven't talked to her. I've never talked to her since. She doesn't want anything to do with me."
Linn, 54, admitted that knowing that his victims don't hate him would give him some peace.
"[Forgiveness would] make me, probably, I don't know, feel better in my heart, knowing that they're forgiving me," he said. "It's terrible what I did."
Kadri had mixed feelings about Linn's request for forgiveness.
"I truly believe that forgiveness is for the victim, not the perpetrator," she said. "Forgiveness is in God's jurisdiction," she added.
Linn was convicted of intentionally defacing, damaging, and destroying religious property, using fire to commit a felony, and using and carrying a firearm to commit a crime of violence. He was ordered to pay restitution, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Linn is serving his time at Victorville penitentiary in California.
