Police are investigating graffiti of swastikas found Wednesday at a Fairfax County, Virginia, shopping center.
It happened in the 1400 block of North Point Village Center in Reston. Around 6 a.m., police responded to the shopping center for a report of graffiti and found several swastikas painted on the sidewalk and nearby areas.
Debbie Katz, who lives in the Herndon-Reston area, was walking with her friend and saw the graffiti.
“We walked by it and were horrified,” Katz said. The shopping center has a grocery store, coffee shop and dry cleaner. “This was our shopping center,” she said.
Katz said the symbols were all over, along with the words “Lucifer” and “USA,” in bold red paint.
The vandalism hit home for Katz, who is Jewish, and she said it was shocking and maddening to see it in her neighborhood.
“I feel it when I see instances of this in the world. I feel it deeply, personally,” she said.
Fairfax County police said the investigation is ongoing.
“I want the criminals to be caught. I’m really hoping that there was some kind of surveillance of the shopping center, and they find who did this and prosecute,” Katz said.
She said she does not understand what prompted this hate. “Obviously, hate is out there among us. I think maybe we need to be a little more alert to this than we tend to be.”
Below is a map of the area where it happened.
WTOP’s Kristi King contributed to this report.
