Peace and tolerance my friends.

ATF and FBI agents are investigating a Saturday morning fire that damaged four pieces of equipment and could halt construction at the site of a planned Islamic center and mosque just outside Murfreesboro.

Eric Kehn, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said his agency has not deemed the burning of an excavation hauler as arson. He did confirm that three other pieces of equipment were damaged, but he would not comment on the extent of the damage.

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Carmie Ayash, a spokeswoman for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, said the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department told center officials that the fire was reported around 1:30 a.m. Saturday. The other three pieces of construction equipment were damaged when doused by gasoline, she said.

Authorities at the scene did not specify whether gasoline or some other accelerant was used to start the fire. Ayash said attempts to contact the company that owns the equipment, Ole South Properties, were unsuccessful Saturday.

“It seems like it was intentional,” Ayash said. “Probably, whoever did it got caught in the middle of the act, got scared and left.”

Ayash said the vandalism at the site “takes it to a whole new level.” A sign announcing the new center has been vandalized twice.

“Everyone in our community no longer feels safe,” she said. “To set a fire that could have blown up equipment and, God forbid, spread and caused damage to the neighbors there … we really feel like this is something that we and the neighbors don’t deserve.”