Vandals spray-painted swastikas at a Fort Lauderdale home, defacing a garage door and a Ukrainian flag and leaving area residents on edge.
Ronald Miller, the neighbor of the resident whose home was targeted this holiday weekend, said seeing the graffiti made him angry.
“It’s sad, it’s sad that it’s here in Fort Lauderdale,” he said.
Miller said he immediately contacted his neighbor.
“I immediately texted John, because I know he sleeps in, and said, ‘Hey, have you been outside?’” he said.
John, an elderly man, hung the flag of Ukraine with the words “I stand with Ukraine.”
7News cameras captured the flag and the garage door with the swastikas spray-painted in black.
Slurs were also scrawled across the garage door.
“It’s sad to see that it’s come here. I did 23 years in the Army, all during the Cold War,” said Miller. “I don’t know why we aren’t supporting Ukraine more than we are today.”
This is not the first time South Florida has dealt with bigotry over the past week.
Antisemitic flyers with false information were tossed into front lawns in cities from Coral Gables to Miami and Parkland.
Among those disturbed by the flyers was Coral Gables resident Richard Amundsen.
“It’s antisemitic filth. I saw this type of filth in my youth with the people that survived the Holocaust,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d see it at this age.”
As for Miller and his Fort Lauderdale neighborhood, he said he’s hoping police are close to catching the vandals after children in the neighborhood gave a good description.
“I believe the neighborhood site said they were between 20 and 40, white male with a female, and they drove a Range Rover, a dark Range Rover,” he said.
Miller said he is also preparing to send a stronger message here and to the people of Ukraine.
“By probably 11:30 this morning I ordered maybe five ‘Support Ukraine’ flags, and they’ll be up and down this street shortly,” he said. “It’s energized a lot of people in this neighborhood who are like, ‘No, not here.’”
Fort Lauderdale Police continue to investigate who committed the act of vandalism.
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