Union Station in Washington DC vandalized with drawings of swastikas, suspect arrested

A 34-year-old man was arrested Saturday in connection to Washington DC’s Union Station being vandalized by swastikas discovered Friday morning. The vandalism came one day after international Holocaust Remembrance Day marking the 77th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazis' Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland.

Geraldo Pando was charged with Display of Certain Emblems and Defacing Private/Public Property. According to police, in addition to spray painting the swastikas on Union Station at approximately 12:45 a.m. on Friday, he also allegedly spray painted graffiti on buildings at 5th St. Northwest, Massachusetts Avenue Northwest and L St. Northwest earlier in the day.

Police Chief Robert Contee said Amtrak is investigating the incident with the Metropolitan Police Department. "…we've been in touch with our Jewish community as well as Jewish leadership to talk about the incident that happened, you know, what we're doing, just to make sure that we're on all cylinders with respect to how we respond to these things. We want to be swift, we want to be accurate in making sure we identify the person who's responsible."

Contee added that the suspect might have been homeless with mental health challenges.

According to WUSA 9, a CBS affiliate, travelers questioned by the vandals were not confronted while the incident was happening especially given the amount of guards and surveillance cameras

Amtrak spokesperson Kimberly Woods said in an email, "Amtrak strongly condemns this act of hatred and will work with our landlord, USRC, and their lessor to remove these symbols as quickly as possible,"

Despite the obvious hate symbols, Amtrak has classified the incident as a case of "property damage.”

Year after year, FBI reports on hate crimes shows that the number of incidents continues to rise. Anti-Jewish hate crimes accounted 57 percent of the 1,174 religiously motivated hate crimes in 2020, even though Jews account for less than 2 percent of the US population.

The FBI was slammed across the political spectrum and social media earlier this month following remarks regarding the hours-long terrorist standoff that occurred in Colleyville, Texas, where Malik Faisal held four people hostage in Congregation Beth Israel synagogue, including their rabbi.

Despite the multi-year trend in their own numbers, and a live stream from the synagogue where the suspect specifically said he was targeting Jews, FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt DeSarno said when he announced the death of the suspected terrorist, "We do believe from our engaging with this subject that he was singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community. But we're continuing to work to find motive and we will continue on that path."

The FBI released another statement after the public outcry and admitted that the Jewish community was targeted.

Sunday morning following the attack while speaking to reporters, President Joe Biden doubled down on the narrative. After calling the hostage taking an antisemitic act of terror said, "I don't think there is sufficient information to know why he targeted that synagogue why he insisted on the release of someone who's been in prison for over 10 years... why he was using anti-Semitic & anti-Israeli comments."