Maryland Teens Accused Of Painting Noose, Slur At High School
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Three teenagers have been charged after a drawing of a noose, the word "lynch" and "a racial slur" were found spray-painted at a Maryland high school, police said Tuesday.
A Bethesda resident reported the graffiti to Montgomery County Police on Saturday morning, and an officer found the vandalism on a storage shed and the pavement near the front entrance of Walt Whitman High School, the agency said in a statement.
The day after the vandalism was discovered, a 17-year-old suspect and an 18-year-old identified as Jake Foster Hoffman went to the police and admitted to their involvement, police said.
Investigators said the 17-year-old "took full responsibility" for the graffiti, as well as for a similar instance in March in which a noose and a racial slur were scrawled on a wall near the school's tennis courts.
Hoffman allegedly confessed to suggesting the utility shed for the vandalism, and a third suspect, a 17-year-old boy, also allegedly admitted to suggesting a location for the graffiti, according to Montgomery County Police.
Police did not say whether the teenagers were students at the school.
The first 17-year-old was charged as a juvenile with two counts of destruction of property and released to the custody of his parent, the second 17-year-old was charged as a juvenile with conspiracy to commit destruction of property and released to a parent and Hoffman was charged with conspiracy to commit destruction of property via a District Court Summons.
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