Police are investigating after the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia located in Fairfax County, VA was covered in spray-painted swastikas for the second time in less than two years.
Dyland Mahone, 20, was arrested in connection with the first time the community center was vandalized, back in April 2017. Little River Church of Christ was also vandalized.
Now local law enforcement is conducting an investigation searching for the most recent suspect, caught in the act on a surveillance video.
BREAKING: Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia — my JCC where my kids went to preschool — spray painted with 19 swastikas overnight. Police say incident captured on security cameras but culprits still unknown. I’m sickened. pic.twitter.com/ttatPg51Hl
— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) October 6, 2018
The suspect was seen spray-painting the swastikas onto the building at 4:30 in the morning on Saturday, October 6. Fairfax County Police were called that morning, when building staff discovered the swastikas around 7 a.m.
The community center released a statement, thanking the police:
“We are grateful to the local law enforcement officials who are working to identify and bring to justice the person or persons who committed the crime.”
Kevin Baron, who has children who attended the preschool at this JCC, spoke out, saying he was “sickened and heartbroken” from these hateful attacks:
I’m just sickened and heartbroken. Not the first time. This building was tagged with Nazi “SS” lightning bolts recently. But this beats all.
All the “globalist” and “Soros” code wording matters. All the alt right infowar snake oil selling matters. All the permissiveness matters. pic.twitter.com/Ec1xWYyouF— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) October 6, 2018
Twitter agrees, and many are disgusted at the blatant hatred and discrimination:
Events stemming from anti-semitism spiked 57%, to about 1,986 incidents in 2017. This was the largest single-year increase in history and the second-highest number of incidents since the 1970s.
There was at least once incident in each state. Especially considering this is the second attack, the center plans on being as secure and alert as possible moving forward:
“We will continue our extensive security measures and ask the community to remain alert and vigilant.”
This is despicable.
— Bill Hahn (@Wilhelm709) October 8, 2018
My father is a holocaust survivor. Hatred of any kind should have no place here.
— Sam Vinograd (@sam_vinograd) October 6, 2018
There is an outpouring of support for those who are directly affected by this:
I’m so very sorry. This is disgusting. This is no longer the country I grew up in.
— LilHeisenberg (@Jenlilheis) October 6, 2018
Disgusting. A heck of a lot of people, including elected leaders, are enabling this and we’ll all regret it.
— Vikram J. Singh (@VJS_Policy) October 6, 2018
I’m so sorry your community has to go through this.
— ϯεɾί ɾεηεε ❤️?????? (@terirenee219) October 6, 2018
I’m so terribly sorry.
— StillTryingToDecide (@Carmen50) October 6, 2018
This is absolutely terrible
— romy reiner (@romyreiner) October 7, 2018
People are terrified, and heartbroken, both for the community and for the future as a whole:
As user @6tours2many said:
“This will not end until all decent citizens of this nation stand together.”
Sending love to our brothers and sisters pic.twitter.com/WM36vwd4NP
— Chalk Hooligans (@ChalkHooligans) October 7, 2018
Our world is in chaos and the leader of the #US is feeding the fire and watching it burn.
— Plainpackageallcontent (@seiliia) October 7, 2018
This has me heartbroken.
I lived in Fairfax, next to Fairfax Corners, for 5 years. It’s a well educated and incredibly diverse area. This is happening everywhere and is emboldened and condoned by the leaders of our country.
We SHOULD be better than this. But here we are. ?
— ClimbrChik (@dekofler) October 6, 2018
This will not end until ALL decent citizens of this nation stand together.
— 6tours2many(Army Ret.) (@6tours2many) October 6, 2018
Baron thanked everyone for the support after he posted photos and videos of the JCC:
Thanks for the outpouring of support. Love always defeats hate. But only if we try. ✌️
— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) October 6, 2018
Anyone with information is urged to call the Mason District Police Station at 703-256-8035. Those who wish to remain anonymous can do so through contacting Crime Solvers at 866-411-8477, submitting an anonymous online, or sending “TIP187” along with a message to 274637.
Those who can provide enough information to press charges and make an arrest will be given a cash reward of $100 to $1,000.
H / T – HuffPo, Wtop, Anti-Defamation League