DENVER — Police in Denver are investigating after at least 15 vehicles were vandalized with hateful messages, including swastikas, in the city’s Speer neighborhood sometime overnight Monday.
The vehicles targeted in the vandalism incident were parked along the 200 block of South Logan Street and on East Cedar Avenue, from Logan to S. Pennsylvania Street.
The vandals painted swastikas on windows and hoods. Other messages, like “LAND OF NAZI” were seen spray-painted on vehicles. The N-word was tagged on some cars.
"They hit everybody and just tried to really just cause some raucous, which they have. Everyone in the neighborhood is really quite concerned about what happened," said resident Jennifer Michael.
Michael said her husband's car was spray painted with the message, "MADE IN MEXICO."
"I think that's just what they (those responsible) wanted. They just wanted to upset a big group of people the best way that they could," Michael said.
Dr. Apryl Alexander, an associate professor in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of Denver, said these incidents are less about who did the vandalism and more about why it was done in the first place.
"Regardless of who it was, it's the intent. The intent was to cause fear in our community and that's exactly what it's doing. So regardless of who it is, that's the purpose of this — and this is what's causing so much division in our community right now," Alexander said. "We (psychologists) label them as bias-motivated incidents."
The total extent of damage to vehicles is unknown.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is in the preliminary stages.
Anyone with information should call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP.