Opinion
DC police arrest suspect accused of spraying swastikas on Union Station
Washington, D.C. police have arrested a suspect after swastikas have been discovered spray-painted at Union Station.
The Metropolitan Police Division stated in a press launch that Geraldo Pando, 34, was arrested and is being charged with defacing personal/public property and show of sure emblems.
Pando allegedly spray-painted the swastikas onto the pillars and constructing of Union Station at 12:45 a.m. on Friday.
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Union Station in Washington, DC, is vandalized with a Swastika on January 29, 2022, two days after Worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Day.
(Photograph by Stefani Reynolds / AFP)
In a press release, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser known as the crime “disturbing,” and stated that the graffiti is being eliminated.
“This morning, commuters within the District of Columbia have been met with the disturbing sight of swastikas drawn on our historic Union Station. This image of hate displayed in our metropolis is each stunning and unsettling, notably on the heels of Worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Amtrak Police Division, which has major jurisdiction within the investigation, is working with the Metropolitan Police Division to research the incident, and Union Station at present has a group of specialists working diligently to take away the graffiti from the historic granite,” Bowser stated.
She additionally stated that the image has no place inside the metropolis, including that she stands with the Jewish group.
“This antisemitic and hateful image has no place in our metropolis, and we stand united with the members of our Jewish group towards anti-Semitism in all its kinds,” Bowser stated.
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Union Station in Washington, DC, is vandalized with a Swastika on January 29, 2022, two days after Worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Day.
(Photograph by Stefani Reynolds / AFP)
Pando is accused of spray-painting graffiti onto buildings on the 900 block of fifth Avenue, Northwest; 400 block of Massachusetts Avenue, Northwest; and the 400 block of L Avenue, Northwest.
Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs, an schooling group that combats antisemitism and helps Israel instructed Fox Information Digital that these sorts of assaults towards Jewish folks “solely serve to make us stronger.”
“It’s a disgrace that individuals of malicious intent would mark such a solemn day with hate. What they don’t understand is that these sorts of assaults towards the Jewish folks will solely serve to make us stronger. We’re assured that the DC police division will do all it might probably to seek out the perpetrator(s),” Rothstein stated.
Dozens of swastikas and anti-Obama slogans have been drawn on pillars across the exterior of Union Station in Washington on Friday, Januarey 28, 2022.
(Photograph By Invoice Clark/CQ-Roll Name, Inc by way of Getty Photographs)
The Metropolitan Police Division and the Amtrak Police are investigating the crime as doubtlessly being motivated by hate or bias, however stated which may change because the investigation proceeds.
“The Metropolitan Police Division and the Amtrak Police are investigating the offense within the Unit block of Massachusetts Avenue, Northeast, as doubtlessly being motivated in complete or partly by hate or bias. The designation could be modified at any level as an investigation proceeds and extra data is gathered. A designation as a hate or bias-motivated crime by MPD doesn’t imply that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime. The Particular Liaison Department is helping with this investigation,” the press launch states.
