No Arrests, Investigation Continues After Anti-Semitic Messages Found At Holy Name

Police are continuing their investigation into who carved anti-Semitic messages in fresh cement outside Holy Name Medical Center's emergency room last week.  

No arrests have been made and two juveniles detained after a similar incident were not behind the offensive markings, Detective Capt. Glenn O'Reilly said today. 

The markings, including a swastika and the word "Jew," were found Thursday morning in a freshly paved sidewalk near the Holy Name Medical Center emergency room on Grange Road.  Officials believe they were carved in the wet concrete late Wednesday, hospital spokeswoman Jacqueline Kates said.

The hospital immediately replaced the cement and stationed additional security patrols in the area Thursday.

Later that day, when Holy Name's vice president of facilities went to make sure the offensive messages had been removed, he noticed three juveniles near the newly replaced concrete. One of the juveniles had carved his initials in the cement.  The vice president followed the group and alerted police, Kates said.  

Officials said those juveniles were not responsible for the anti-Semitic messages, which police are treating as a bias crime. 

"Holy Name has never experienced anything like that," Kates said. "The administrators I spoke to were terribly upset."

Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin called the incident "disturbing" and said police were working to catch those responsible. 

"Hopefully we will find who did this," he said.