Man arrested for allegedly vandalizing menorah with a Nazi symbol in California
By Taylor Romine and Jay Croft, CNN
A Texas man was charged with felony vandalism with a hate crime allegation after allegedly vandalizing a menorah in California and carving a Nazi symbol into its base, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said Tuesday.
Eric Brian King, 47, allegedly threw items at a nine-foot-tall menorah displayed on the yard of a Beverly Hills home, authorities said. He is also accused of carving “a symbol associated with the German Nazi regime into the base,” the district attorney’s office said.
CNN is working to identify an attorney for King.
“The ugliness of antisemitism has revealed itself in many ways throughout our community and across the country in recent weeks,” District Attorney George Gascón said. “I condemn it, and we must make clear that such hate will not be tolerated.”
King is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday, the district attorney’s office said.
Police responded to a private property in Beverly Hills at 8 p.m. PT Sunday after reports of a “suspect defacing a menorah,” the Beverly Hills Police Department said in a news release.
After taking a man in custody, police said that surveillance video depicted the suspect “throwing objects at a Menorah” and carving Nazi symbols into the menorah’s base.
It’s the latest antisemitic incident to make headlines in recent months.
In the Beverly Hill vandalism incident, King, a resident of Dallas, was charged with felony vandalism and a hate crime, police said. He was being held in the custody of the Beverly Hills Police Department on a $20,000 bail, according to online records.
“A despicable act such as this will never be tolerated in our City,” Police Chief Mark G. Stainbrook said in a statement.
Recent string of antisemitic actions, statements
In November, police and federal authorities thwarted a potential attack on a New York area synagogue, arresting two men in connection with online threats.
Earlier in December, police in New York arrested a man accused of firing a BB gun at a Jewish father and son who were grocery shopping.
Also this month, rapper Kanye West, now legally known as Ye, was suspended from Twitter after he tweeted an image of the Star of David with a swastika inside. The tweet came the same day he expressed his love for Adolf Hitler. Former President Donald Trump had hosted West along with White nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago estate in November.
Earlier in the fall, NBA player Kyrie Irving was suspended by the Brooklyn Nets after posting a Twitter link to a documentary containing antisemitic messages. He initially refused to issue an apology.
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