A young man from Saudi Arabia enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Stout was assaulted on a street in downtown Menomonie, Wis., about 70 miles east of Minneapolis and died one day later, according to reports from police and school officials.
Hussain Saeed Alnahdi, 24, was a junior majoring in business administration who enrolled in 2015 at UW-Stout, according to a statement from the university, whose campus is in Menomonie.
"Our deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers go out to Hussain's family in Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, and his friends at UW-Stout," UW-Stout Chancellor Bob Meyer said Monday in the statement.
"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," Meyer said.
Police officials reported that the suspected assailant was a 6-foot-tall white male who assaulted Alnahdi shortly after 2 a.m. CT on Halloween night, near a pizza restaurant. Alnahdi was found unconscious and bleeding from his mouth and nose before he was rushed to hospital where he died from his injuries the following day.
Linda Bark, who taught English as a second language to Alnahdi at Stout, said he was "very popular, very well liked."
A makeshift memorial has sprung up outside the Topper's pizza where the injured Alnahdi was found.
Police said the motive for the slaying is not yet clear. There are concerns that the assault was a hate crime because of Alnahdi's ethnicity and religion.
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations identified Alnahdi as a Muslim and tweeted that the organization was monitoring the investigation into his death.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported last week that hate crimes targeting Muslims in the Twin Cities and elsewhere across the USA are increasing to levels not seen since after Sept. 11, 2001.
