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Palo Alto police are investigating a hate crime in which a derogatory racial statement was written inside a bathroom at El Camino Park and discovered by a patrol officer earlier this week.
The officer found the vandalism at the park located at 155 El Camino Real around 4:40 p.m. on Wednesday, police said in a press release. The officer saw a message that expressed hatred for white people etched outside of a bathroom stall. Police suspect the message was etched sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday, but aren’t clear on what material was used to write the statement.
A public works crew was called to clean up the vandalism, police said.
As of Thursday morning, there was no information on the vandal or known ties to a hate crime vandalism case at the same park on May 7, when racial epithets directed at white people were found in the public restroom.
“The city of Palo Alto strongly denounces hate crimes of all kinds,” the release states.
Anyone with information about the vandalism is asked to call the department’s 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent by text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the police’s free mobile app, downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.
This is very sad.