Police are questioning a suspect after someone spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti and tackled a man Sunday afternoon on the North Side.
Around 4:40 p.m., a man spray-painted graffiti on a synagogue in the 2900 block of West Devon and then spray-painted a cargo container on the 3000 block of West Devon, according to a CPD media statement.
The offender then tackled a man and ran from the scene, police said.
Yeshiva World News reported that swastikas were scrawled on Hanna Sacks Bais Yaakov high school at 3021 West Devon and Congregation F.R.E.E. at 2935 West Devon. The battery victim was treated by Hatzolah, a volunteer EMS within the Jewish community, according to the outlet.
Police took a suspect into custody around 6:08 p.m. after a 911 caller reported that a man was yelling about harming Jews on the 6300 block of North Albany. Area Three detectives are questioning him.
Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th) told constituents in an email Sunday night that “several” Jewish institutions and businesses were vandalized in the area.
“The police are still investigating whether the incidents are connected and if they were carried out by the same person or group of people.”
“These incidents are particularly upsetting as they come mere days after Holocaust Remembrance Day and in light of a worrying increase in antisemitism across the nation,” Silverstein wrote.