Police in California say three teenage boys used cigarette lighters and aerosol cans to burn swastikas into the ground in a residential area in the San Gabriel Valley on Friday.
A homeowner in San Dimas found the crudely drawn Nazi symbols burnt onto his lawn which is made of synthetic turf. Ted Ferris, 69, is not Jewish and did not understand why his property was targeted.
"My first reaction? If I knew who did it, I'd choke 'em—and that's (saying it) politely," he told The Los Angeles Times.
Similar swastikas were also found burnt into asphalt in nearby Covina. There were also three small brush fires in San Dimas, and a security camera was vandalized on the same day, Long Beach Post reported.
A $10,000 reward had been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators. The three teenagers had been seen in the area around the time the vandalism occurred, investigators said.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said at the time of the incidents: "These are blatant symbols of hate and violence that have a serious and troubling impact on everyone in our community," the Los Angeles Times reported.
Officials at the sheriff's San Dimas Station said that on Monday the teenagers were arrested for the offenses. The suspects are a 14-year-old boy from Long Beach and two 13-year-olds from Hemet and Covina, the Long Beach Post reported.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said that the boys, whose names have been withheld because of their age, could face charges of arson and vandalism.
Authorities say they do not know what the boys' motive was but their actions did not appear to be "directed at any particular person(s)," according to the Sheriff's Department.
L.A. County Sheriff's Sgt. Peter Shupe said that because Ferris was not Jewish authorities did not consider the act a hate crime and that it was probably teenagers "just being little jerks."
There have been a number of anti-Semitic incidents across America in recent years. The Anti-Defamation League found that the number of anti-Semitic incidents rose 57% in the United States in 2017.
More recently, in January 2018 a group of students at an Ojai middle school lay down in a field in the shape of a swastika. In March, students in Newport Beach were seen posing around a swastika made of Solo cups, some with their arms raised in a Nazi salute.
Last month, the Oklahoma Democratic Party's headquarters was vandalized with hateful and racist graffiti of swastikas, neo-Nazi messages, and death threats.
Uncommon Knowledge
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