[ad_1]
Wednesday, a California synagogue was covered with obscene words, raising fears of a possible rise in hate crimes following the deadly shootings in Pittsburgh last week.
Police said a vandal had written anti-Semitic messages in the Beth Jacob Synagogue in Irvine, California early Wednesday, just days after an armed man killed 11 Jewish worshipers in Pittsburgh. The accused shooter, Robert Bowers, 46, has been charged with several counts, including federal hate crimes.
Irvine mayor Don Wagner said that vandalism and deadly shootings tragically recalled that "historical prejudices persist among evil people".
KABC
"The news this morning about anti-Semitic vandalism against one of Irvine's synagogues, as well as reports of a recent incident at Irvine Valley College, are both enraged and unacceptable. ", wrote Wagner in a statement Wednesday. "They will not be challenged by the brave people of Irvine.An attack on someone in Irvine, regardless of their religion, is an attack on us all."
Surveillance footage published by the Irvine Police Department show a hooded assailant who stooped to spray paint the front of the building before escaping by bike. Authorities said they increased the number of patrols in Jewish centers in the region after the attack. The police did not disclose any details about potential suspects.
Police announced that she was considering "investigating aggressively" about the incident as a hate crime.
According to church leaders, the antisemitic message was quickly swept away.
"The idea that something like this is happening in America and Irvine is unreal," said Allen Berezovsky, chairman of Beth Jacob's board of directors, at the Los Angeles Times. "My family emigrated here from the Soviet Union to escape such things … and to find it here in America, it's scary and disturbing."
Source link
