VIDEOS: Authorities have released surveillance video showing what appears to be an arsonist torching the playground at the CAIRO Academy on Sunday. The early-learning center serves immigrant and refugee families in Southeast Portland. In the surveillance video, a person can be seen apparently sneaking around the playground at the Center for African Immigrants and Refugees Organization (CAIRO) before setting the blaze in the middle of the night. “The suspect appears to be a male, wearing a black hoodie and some shorts. The video is in night vision mode, and so it’s a little bit harder to see,” said Portland Police Bureau Major Crimes Unit Supervisor Sergeant Matthew Jacobson.
CAIRO is an organization that provides education, programs and services for children and their families. “When a space that was supposed to say ‘you belong’ is suddenly marked by exclusion,” said Executive Director of CAIRO Abdikadir Bashir. “This is so sad. My daughter did two years in preschool with CAIRO and she loved it and seeing this is heartbreaking,” said Hodan Abdi, a mother who belongs to the organization. Portland police say the playground was set on fire around 2 a.m. Sunday. Their major crimes unit is looking into the case on the possibility that this was a bias crime. “So this was obviously something that was done on purpose. This wasn’t by accident,” said Jacobson.
