Washington, D.C., police say they have made an arrest in connection to swastikas that were painted on several exterior columns at Union Station on Friday, noting they are investigating the situation as a possible hate crime.
Authorities arrested Geraldo Pando, 34, on Friday and charged him with display of certain emblems and defacing private/public property, an incident that is being investigated “as potentially being motivated in whole or in part by hate or bias,” according to the report.
Pando, who has no fixed address, vandalized three other locations in northwest Washington later that day, police said.
AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATING SWASTIKAS ON COLUMNS OF DC’S UNION STATION
The Metropolitan Police Department and Amtrak Police opened an investigation Friday after images of the vandalism cropped up on social media earlier that morning.
“Amtrak strongly condemns this act of hatred and will work with our landlord, USRC, and their lessor to remove these symbols as quickly as possible,” Amtrak spokeswoman Kimberly Woods told the Washington Examiner Friday.
Several groups decried the imagery as an act of antisemitism.
“To find such a symbol of hate at the entrance to Union Station is unacceptable and is not just an affront to Jews, but to all Americans,” said Gil Preuss, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Swastikas are a chilling symbol of Nazi hatred and have no place in our society.”
To find such vandalism one day later emphasizes the need to end “anti-Jewish hatred,” Preuss said.
“The recent surge in antisemitism over the past year, including the hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel in Texas two weeks ago and the antisemitic fliers that have been disseminated in D.C., Miami, Denver, and San Francisco over the last few weeks, must end,” he said.
The incident happened one day after International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which commemorates the victims of the Holocaust. Thursday marked the 77th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
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Antisemitic attacks have been on the rise in the United States, and 2021 was the worst year for such violence in a decade, according to a report by the American Jewish Committee.
Police said they have not determined whether the incident was a hate crime, but it will update as more information becomes available.
