Hate Crime At Synagogue Discovered: Skokie Police

SKOKIE, IL — Someone smashed a window of a Skokie synagogue Sunday in what police have classified as a hate crime.

Officers were called to the Persian Hebrew Congregation at 3820 Main St. around 3 p.m. for a report of a shattered front window, according to a statement from the Skokie Police Department.

Police found a broken stick and a sign that said, "Freedom for Palestine" on the ground below the broken window.

According to the department statement, investigators are "diligently working on all leads."

No images of the damage — or of the suspects — was immediately available from Skokie police Monday.

But surveillance images from the synagogue show one man place a pro-Palestinian sign on the window before another comes and breaks the window, WLS reported.

Synagogue officials told the station they have hired security in response.

Sunday's incident comes less than three weeks after another potentially ethnically motivated crime was reported in Skokie, according to police reports.

Police said sometime between the afternoon of April 26 and the morning of April 27, some stole one of a series of sign from Skokie School District 73.5, which said "Stop," leaving the message "Asian Hate" at McCracken Middle School.

Anyone with any information to share with police was asked to contact the department's non-emergency line at 847-982-5900 or its crime tip hotlines available by calling 847-933-8477 or texting Skokie and your information to 84711.

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