Hopkinton Police Investigating Anti-Semitic Graffiti
HOPKINTON (CBS) – Police are investigating after the word "Jew" and a swastika was painted onto traffic signs in Hopkinton.
The graffiti was discovered on Thursday on North Mill Street.
"When I first saw it, I said 'Why would someone do that," Hopkinton resident Sharon Serocki told WBZ-TV's Chantee Lans after seeing a pair of traffic signs vandalized on her drive home from work on Thursday. The signs have since been cleaned up.
Serocki, who has lived on North Mill Street for more than 50 years, says it is a "quiet neighborhood," adding that she has not seen vandalism like this in the time that she has lived there.
While officers were checking the neighborhood for suspects, they found a non-religious profane word painted on an Ash Street driveway.
Later on Thursday, a Pond Street resident told police they found "666" written on a piece of paper under a rock in the road.
"At this point in the investigation, we have no evidence to make us suspect that anyone has been individually targeted based on their religious beliefs," Hopkinton Police said in a news statement.
Police reached out to the Anti-Defamation League and local synagogues for support following the incidents.
"The Hopkinton Police will have zero tolerance for this type of offensive behavior," Hopkinton Police Chief Ed Lee said.
WBZ-TV's Chantee Lans and Katie Brace contributed to this report.
