CONCORD — Detectives are circulating a flyer with handwritten samples taken from hate-filled messages scrawled on a home occupied by a Somalian family last weekend and left on three other refugee families' residences last September.
Detectives have not confirmed the four graffiti incidents were done by one person but said it is “very possible” the same vandal did it.
The latest racist, xenophobic graffiti was left on the side of a Thompson Street home sometime overnight on Aug. 4 and discovered early Aug. 5. Someone used a black marker to pen the neatly written, racist message on the apartment building where a Somalian family of nine resides.
“We can not coexist with third world scum. The Primitive beasts like those in this house are to blame for the crimes we now suffer. Love your legals, DePort the rest,” read the message.
A similar incident happened on Sept. 18, when hate-filled messages were left on three homes on Perley and Downing streets, targeting other refugee families from Somalia and the Congo.
“You are not welcome here this town was a wonderful crime free place for hundreds of years, your subhuman culture has already brought many crimes linked to you mud people. We are sick at Paying for you to live here go back to your hell and leave us alone” was one message.
The flyer being distributed by detectives provides more details about the incidents, points out similarities among them and provides handwritten samples of the graffiti, all in the hope that someone will be able to identify the individual responsible and will call police.
Similarities of the lowercase “bs” and “u's” and uppercase “Ps” used in the racist scripts are pointed out in the flyer.
The flyer also notes the sequence of words shown were altered, in order to “expose the suspect's handwriting without conveying his intended message. Keep in mind that the messages were written on vertical walls with permanent markers, and that in some cases the suspect had to lean left or right while writing.”
The latest message was written sometime between 11 p.m. Aug. 4 and 6 a.m. Aug. 5, indicating the writer was out of his own home at some point during that time frame, police said. The 2011 incident also occurred in the overnight period of Saturday night into Sunday morning.
The latest message was written with a thick-tipped, black permanent marker, while the writer used a thinner tip black permanent marker last year.
All of the homes were specifically targeted based on the race and/or culture of the occupants — the refugee families are from Africa — which police said is indicative that the vandal has knowledge and familiarity with the neighborhood.
The messages were all neatly written, largely free of spelling and grammatical errors, and were intended to cause fear and alarm to the occupants, according to police.
Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call Concord Regional Crimeline at 226-3100. Crimeline pays up to $1,000 and all calls are strictly confidential.
