Atlanta police hunt vandal responsible for spray-painting swastika onto rainbow crosswalk
Police in Atlanta, Georgia are hunting the individual responsible for spray painting a swastika and an anti-gay slur on a rainbow crosswalk in midtown on Wednesday.
The person, who was captured on surveillance video, wore all black and is believed to have spray-painted another swastika near a Federal Reserve building on Friday. The second swastika was covered by paper as police began investigating. Workers from the citys Department of Transportation used pressure washers to quickly remove the first swastika from the crosswalk.
When you have a swastika, when you have homophobic graffiti, of course its a hate crime, interim Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The motivation is to intimidate. The motivation is to spread hate, and this city doesnt have any room for hate, and this police department doesnt tolerate hate.
A spokesperson for Mayor Andre Dickens office called the vandalism disgusting and thanked city workers for erasing the hate that has no place in our city in such a swift and efficient manner.
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