Arlington Police Investigating Hate Crime After Racial Slurs Painted On Buildings
ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Arlington police are investigating a hate crime after racial slurs were painted on a restaurant, car wash and vacant store along Arkansas Lane on the city's east side.
"It's really a message from a racist individual, to an entire group of people," said Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson.
He tweeted: "This morning our community was targeted for a hate crime in East Arlington. Racial slurs were painted on a building & car wash. We will not tolerate hate crimes. We will vigorously investigate & seek criminal prosecution. Arlington stands for the protection of all people."
Broad brush strokes of paint, covered up an ugly message left overnight; underneath, was the f-word, the n-word, and in at least one spot, a rough swastika.
The storefront, restaurant and car wash vandalized didn't have anything in common other than they were facing traffic along the busy Arkansas and New York intersection. The message isn't clear, although the word "liar" was repeatedly painted.
"It's really a message from a racist individual, to an entire group of people," said Johnson. "We absolutely have to show intolerance to those type of crimes, because we don't want to project any instance where somebody believes this might be accepted, some accepted form of behavior."
Police were still canvassing the neighborhood tuesday, and working to determine if it was one person or several, who were responsible for the criminal mischief.
Johnson said they will aggressively work to find who is responsible, but even if they don't, it would be something they could still report as a hate crime to the FBI.
