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A synagogue in Irvine, Calif. was vandalized overnight Wednesday, just 4 days after a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh killed 11.
USA TODAY

Vandals damaged headstones at Waad Hakolel Cemetery in Rochester, N.Y., on March 3, 2017.(Photo: Gretchen Stumme, AFP / Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES – Police are Investigating anti-Semitic graffiti spray-painted on a Southern California synagogue has a hate crime, just four days after a gunman killed at a synagogue in Pittsburgh – the deadliest attack against the Jewish community in U.S. history.

The Irvine Police Department is on the wall of Beth Jacob Synagogue on Wednesday morning.

Police believe the vandalism occurred around 1 am Wednesday, public information officer Kim Mohr told USA TODAY. Video surveillance of the synagogue shown in a man wearing a hoodie spray-painting the wall and leaving on a bicycle.

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"I just feel very sad that in America, in 2018, we still have to worry about anti-Semitism," Allen Berezovsky, president of the temple's board, told the Orange County Register.

The Irvine Police Department has increased patrols at the city's Jewish facilities in response. In a statement, Irvine Mayor Don Wagner called the vandalism, a similar recent incident at a local community college, enraging and unacceptable.

"These two local acts of hate, and even more so the senseless, wanton murder of 11 innocent people in Pittsburgh, remind us that historical prejudices remain alive in evil people," Wagner said. "It is for the good to work tirelessly against them , their hatred, and their evil. Anti-Semitism can not be acceptable in this country; it will not be ignored in Irvine. "

According to a message from the congregation posted on Facebook, the suspect spray-painted the wall facing the street after jumping at a synagogue's pedestrian entrance.

The investigation is ongoing. Irvine Police ask them to contact the detective at 949-724-7098.

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Audio from Police Scanners Detail the horrific scene as a gunman shots and kills 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
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