Police trying to identify suspect after former Markham synagogue defaced with antisemitic graffiti

Investigation into string of antisemitic graffiti Police are investigating a string of racist and antisemitic graffiti, including one incident at a former synagogue.

York Regional Police say they're looking for witnesses and are trying to identify a suspect after antisemitic graffiti was found scrawled on a school building which used to serve as a synagogue, and in a park in Markham.

Police said each incident occurred in the area of Simonston Boulevard and Don Mills Road on separate dates over the past two months.

On Jan. 9, black spray paint was found on signs at Simonston Park.

Then on Jan. 12, blue spray paint was found on a school building located across the street on Simonston Boulevard.

Blue spray paint was found on the same school building again on Feb. 19.

The building, which now serves as a private school, used to be a synagogue.

“Investigators believe that these incidents are hate motivated and are asking any witnesses, anyone with information or video surveillance footage in that area, to please come forward,” police said in a news release on Friday.

Const. Maniva Armstrong told CP24.com that police are hoping that an area resident might have security footage or dashcam footage that could help identify a suspect.

She said the incidents are concerning to police and members of the community and called them “unacceptable.”

“We don’t tolerate this type of action and we will investigate it to the fullest and prosecute to the full extent of the law,” she said.

The information from York Regional Police comes just days after Toronto police said they were investigating incidents of antisemitic graffiti at three schools. Police said they believed all three of those incidents were linked.

There is no known connection so far, Armstrong said, between the Markham incidents and similar incidents that have taken place recently in Toronto.

Jewish groups have voiced concern over an alarming rise in antisemitic incidents over the past year or so, including several recent incidents where students allegedly performed Nazi salutes at Jewish teachers, and have called for better education about Jewish history and antisemitism.

YRP are asking anyone with footage from the area or information about the incidents to contact investigators at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7241, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.