Police are investigating what appears to be a hate crime in the Three Springs subdivision and elsewhere in Durango, where several swastikas have appeared.
A large swastika was drawn on a garage door sometime around Sept. 21 in the 400 block of Clear Spring Drive, in the Three Springs subdivision, said Cmdr. Ray Shupe of the Durango Police Department. After further investigation, police learned of two similar incidents at the same residence that went unreported, he said.
The people who were targeted are Jewish, Shupe said.
Another incident occurred Friday in the Animas Surgical Center parking lot, south of downtown Durango, where a swastika was scratched into the side of Kassi Uptain’s Toyota Tundra.
“I went in for my kids’ dentist appointments. We were in there for 1½ hours, I came out, and it was on my driver door,” Uptain said.
Uptain, who is not Jewish, said it seems like a random act of vandalism. She was unaware of any other vehicles that were similarly vandalized.
“I don’t even live in Durango; I live in Dolores,” she said. “The only thing we can think of as to why it was my truck is because I have a huge Second Amendment sticker on my back glass. But I don’t know anybody over there or anything that goes on.”
The symbol is offensive, and it’s also going to be expensive to fix, Uptain said.
“Basically, I’m pretty pissed,” she said. “It’s $600 just to get it off my door. I take my kid to kindergarten with that on my door. ... Why vandalize? It’s just insane.”
Police are asking anyone with information about these crimes or future incidents to report them as soon as possible so they can be investigated right away.
“The Durango Police Department takes these types of crimes very seriously, especially when they target citizens based on race, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation,” the department said in a news release Wednesday.
Anyone with information should call dispatch at 385-3900.
shane@durangoherald.com
