A vandalism spree earlier this week in the Yorktown neighborhood is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
Graffiti was discovered Monday morning on 27th Street N. and N. Jefferson Street, a few blocks from Yorktown High School. It included a swastika painted on the sidewalk and a swastika and a racial slur spray painted on a car.
“This morning I awoke to find that my car had been vandalized with racist slogans,” the owner of the Lexus said in a post on Nextdoor. “They used spray paint on my white car and tried on my wife’s black car. Instead, on hers, they chained the drivers side wheels together. Up the street, they painted a swastika in a neighbors driveway.”
The homeowner whose driveway was spray painted spoke to WUSA 9, in a report (below) that aired last night. His Ring camera captured video of three younger suspects, possibly teenagers.
“The words that they used, the symbols that they used, they are old enough to know what it meant,” Dale Smith, a retired Arlington County Fire Department battalion chief, told the TV station.
The exact motive for the vandalism is unclear. Smith is Black, while the car owner is white.
Arlington County police say they’re investigating the graffiti as a potential hate crime.
More, below, from ACPD.
DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, 2024-02190059, 5700 block of 27th Street N. At approximately 7:19 a.m. on February 19, police were dispatched to the report of graffiti. Upon arrival, it was determined the reporting party located a swastika painted on the sidewalk. Responding officers canvassed the area and located two vehicles in the 2700 block of N. Jefferson Street that had been spray painted, one of which included a swastika and racial slur. The incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime. Anyone with information related to this investigation is asked to contact the Arlington County Police Department’s Tip Line at 703-228-4180 or [email protected]. Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).