Bull's-eyes sprayed on buildings, buses in Miami Beach

Vandalism sprayed Scott Rakow Youth Center, mikvah

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Miami Beach police are investigating racist vandalism sprayed on at least four buildings and three buses across the city.

The vandalism found Tuesday included "KKK" and bull's-eyes sprayed on a mikvah -- a ritual bathhouse for Jewish women -- as well as the Scott Rakow Youth Center, a condominium, and a homeless outreach center. The four buildings are within blocks of each other.

"It's unfortunate hate messages, anti-Semitic symbols of racism that are just hurtful," said Det. Vivian Hernandez. "Because of the locations, they're canvassing homes to see if anybody has surveillance video or may know any individual that would do this."

Jessica Pusceddu said her daughter found the graffiti sprayed on the youth center.

"The fact that they wrote 'KKK' on Scott Rakow, it's a personal vendetta," she said.

"I got my car sprayed a couple of months ago," said Charlie Ajaj, who lives at the condominium. "I'm not sure if it's the same people."

Daniel Nunez was called to scrub off the graffiti at the homeless outreach center.

"I couldn't remove the 'KKK' symbol from it, so I have to redo the whole plaque," he said. "I haven't seen this in a while."

Anti-Defamation League Florida Regional Director Hava Holzhauer issued the following statement:

"Whenever hateful or extremist imagery appears, it is a reminder that bigotry still exists within our community. The Anti-Defamation League remains dedicated to putting a stop to all forms of hatred and prejudice, and we hope that community leaders will join with us in denouncing this reprehensible graffiti.

While it's too early in the investigation to determine who the perpetrators are, we do not believe that a particular hate or extremist group is responsible for this specific series of anti-Semitic and racist graffiti since images such as "KKK" and the anarchist "A" were used together - each representing ideologies that are typically not aligned with one another.  It is also too soon to conclude that the Jewish institution, among one of four targets, was canvassed specifically for being Jewish."


About the Authors:

Glenna Milberg joined Local 10 News in September 1999 to report on South Florida's top stories and community issues. She also serves as co-host on Local 10's public affairs broadcast, "This Week in South Florida."