Police investigating after ‘offensive' graffiti is found in Norwich

Norwich police said they are investigating after offensive graffiti was found in locations on the city's westside on Friday.

Police said they found antisemitic symbols in four locations and some graffiti said "Trump."

“Roughly around 6:30 this morning, we started fielding phone calls, both on our anonymous tip line and dispatch,” Lt. Kyle Besse said. “We sent officers out and discovered the graffiti in several different locations. At least two of them had the word ‘Trump’ included, and they all included a swastika-type symbol.”

Besse said one was found on a wall, another on the Interstate 395 overpass. Two were spray painted on roadways.

“A friend hit me up and said, ‘how disgusting is this? Look what’s going on in our town.’ This has never been something that I’ve seen and I’ve been here 46 years of my life,” Erica Inman, of Norwich, said. “It’s disgusting, it’s pretty horrible.”

Those in the Jewish community in Norwich were devastated when they learned about the graffiti Friday morning.

“This morning, to wake up to a text message from a friend saying, ‘I was driving to Starbucks to get my coffee and there was a huge swastika on the road,’ [it] just was a devastating way to start the day when our community is feeling so vulnerable and so sad right now,” Rachel Levy, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut, said.

“In our community, we have children of Holocaust survivors who live here. Our Jewish community actively works to help community members who need food and clothing. We cannot understand why there are people here who want to exterminate us," she continued.

Levy said she wishes she could sit down and have a conversation with the person responsible.

“We would like to have a conversation we would like to show what the Jewish community is really all about, that we want to work towards building a better world and we don't want anybody to miss out on the opportunities of this wonderful American democracy that we're a part of,” Levy said.

“This is not something that our Norwich community tolerates. This is not something that we want as part of our community. My family came here in 1905, welcomed as Jewish immigrants, and we're here to stay," she continued.

Officers are working to gather evidence, identify whoever is responsible and take all necessary legal action to prosecute the individuals involved.

“This type of vandalism is unacceptable and does not reflect the values of our community,” Norwich police said in a statement. “We want to assure the public that the Norwich Police Department is diligently investigating this matter.”

Mayor of Norwich, Peter Nystrom, said in a statement, “I think the acts are despicable. The act of cowards. It’s clearly something that just demonstrates the unfortunate hatred in our world and I fully expect these people will be caught, and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

The Norwich Area Interfaith Association issued a statement, saying they're deeply troubled and saddened by these recent acts.

"These symbols of hatred and intolerance are an affront to the values we hold dear as a community—values of love, respect, and unity. We stand together to make it unequivocally clear: hate has no home in Norwich."

Anyone who has information is urged to come forward and call the Norwich Police Department at (860) 886-5561.