WASHINGTON — Swastikas were among the images spray-painted on a banner outside a Montgomery County elementary school over the weekend, and police are looking for the culprits.
Around 10 a.m. Sunday, Montgomery County police responded to Burning Tree Elementary School located at 7900 Beech Tree Rd. in Bethesda for a call about vandalism. A banner outside the school’s entrance had images of swastikas and male genitalia spray-painted onto it, police said.
A Jewish congregation holds weekly services at the school, and a group who had attended service Sunday morning discovered the vandalism, according to police.
The Sunday incident comes more than two weeks after a similar case at Quince Orchard High School in North Potomac.
On Oct. 13, a swastika and images of male genitalia were drawn with a caustic substance on the football field at Quince Orchard. Police have not arrested anyone in the Oct. 13 incident.
Police are investigating if the two cases are related, said Montgomery County Police Officer Rick Goodale.
“Detectives are certainly going to look at it because the nature of the symbols is similar,” he said. “The methods are different, but the images are similar.”
Anyone with information about the Burning Tree Elementary School vandalism or the suspects is asked to call police at 240-773-6710.
Below is a map of the location of the vandalism:
