SLIDESHOW: Mural vandalized
SACRAMENTO, CA -- A mural featuring Sacramento Kings player Omri Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the NBA, has been vandalized with a swastika drawn between Casspi's eyes.
A viewer wrote to News10 on Wednesday after noticing the defaced mural across from the 16th Street light rail station in downtown Sacramento. "There is no place for stuff like that in the world, and people need to grow up and start doing the right things," the viewer wrote.
It appeared someone later tried to scratch out the swastika.
Both the Sacramento Police Department and the Sacramento Kings said they had not heard of the vandalism until News10 contacted them.
The incident comes just hours before the start of Rosh Hashanah, the observance of the Jewish new year.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg issued a statement calling the graffiti an "act of hate and intolerance." The Sacramento Democrat, who is also Jewish, called on police to do everything possible to find the person responsible.
Sacramento police are asking anyone with information about the graffiti to contact investigators.
News10/KXTV and The Associated Press
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