Police investigate anti-Semitic graffiti, suspect in previous incident arraigned

Tufts University Police Department (TUPD)is continuing to investigate an incident of anti-Semitic graffiti, which took place outside the Theta Delta Chi (123) house at 123 Packard Ave. last Saturday, March 28.

TUPD officers received a report of a vandalism incident at 9:50 a.m. that morning from the students living at 123, who discovered that several students’ cars parked behind the house had been defaced with silver latex paint. TUPD officers noted that the only clear symbol left by the vandals was a swastika painted on the trunk of one of the cars, while the paint on the other cars seemed to have been randomly applied.

The students who spoke to TUPD explained that when they had gone to sleep at around 1:00 am, no sign of vandalism was apparent. The students concluded that the vandalism must have occurred between 1:00 a.m. and 9:50 a.m. No other evidence of vandalism was discovered by TUPD on campus that morning.

Yesterday evening, the university sent an email to the Tufts community with an update on two similar incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti, which occurred last November and December on and near Lewis Hall, along with similar incidents in the City of Somerville. The update announced, via a Middlesex District Attorney press release, that one of the suspects in the incidents, a non-Tufts youth, has been arraigned in Cambridge Juvenile Court on several charges related to the incident.

The suspect, a 17-year-old male, has been charged with two counts of vandalizing property, property damage to intimidate and four counts of defacing property, and will receive a hearing on these charges on April 22. The other suspect has entered a juvenile diversion program through the District Attorney’s Office.

“These incidents violated Tufts' fundamental values of inclusion and respect for all members of our community,” the announcement stated.

The announcement noted that the March 28 incident continues to be investigated.