Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on February 8, 2017

A man has been charged with a hate crime after he allegedly broke a window and placed swastikas on the door of a Loop synagogue, police said.

Stuart Wright, 31, was charged with one felony count of hate crime to a church or synagogue after he was identified in surveillance video as the person who vandalized the Chicago Loop Synagogue at 15 S. Clark St. on Saturday, police said.

The video showed a man parking a dark-colored SUV in front of the synagogue around 12:30 a.m. and briskly walking up to it, placing stickers on the door and smashing a window.

The man was wearing a mask and retrieved a metal object from his pocket before swinging twice at the window. He ran back to his car and drove away.

Police collected license plate information and processed fingerprints from the scene, officials said. Police got additional, anonymous information on a tip line.

Wright was arrested around 11:45 a.m. Tuesday in the 2100 block of South Loomis Street, police said.

The synagogue opened in 1959 and has a congregation of 800 people, according to the president of the synagogue, Lee Zoldan.

Check back for updates.

Read the original post:
Man charged with hate crime in vandalism of Loop synagogue - Chicago Tribune

Category: Synagogue
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