Everett, Wash.
Published: Saturday, September 22, 2007

Search is on for Mill Creek swastika culprit

Police said Friday that they're chasing leads but haven't yet identified a suspect.

By Diana Hefley, Herald Writer

 MILL CREEK — Police on Friday were following leads in hopes of catching up with whoever left anti-Semitic graffiti on a Mill Creek family's vehicles earlier this week.

No arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified, Mill Creek police spokesman Steve Winters said Friday.

"We're still working the case and chasing some leads to develop a suspect or person of interest," he said.

Police have yet to call the vandalism a hate crime. Winters said it's too early in the investigation to know what motivated the vandal to deface the vehicles with backward swastikas and the words "I eat Jews."

The family believes they were targeted because they are Jewish, said Anna, who has asked that the family's last name not be printed out of fear for their safety. Her husband's work truck and her daughter's trucks were vandalized in two separate incidents.

A large swastika, crude drawings and hateful words were scribbled on the family's truck Sunday. At first Anna believed it was a tasteless prank by a juvenile. She said it went beyond a prank Thursday after someone scrawled 11 swastikas on the 18-year-old daughter's truck.

Anna emigrated from the Soviet Union nearly three decades ago to escape persecution for her faith. She believes the swastikas, symbols of anti-Semitism, were meant to scare her family. It is the kind of terrorism she thought she left behind when she came to the U.S., Anna said.

The family has lived in the same neighborhood in Mill Creek for 19 years. They said they have been touched by the kindness of their neighbors since the vandalism.

People also have been calling the police department to offer their support to the family, Winters said.

Anna said she wants the culprit to know that hateful vandalism isn't acceptable and it won't be tolerated in Mill Creek or anywhere else.

"I'm hoping it's a teenager because if it's an adult, it's very scary," Anna said. "The thing is there isn't a child that comes into this world born with this bigotry and hatred in their heart. If our community doesn't stand up to this now, there will only be more incidents like this."



Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA