Can you identify this person of interest in Bellingham’s weekend swastika hate crime?
A person of interest has been identified in the investigation into swastikas that were placed on several downtown Bellingham and Fairhaven businesses, police said on social media.
In a tweet made at 7:38 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, Bellingham Police shared photos of a person wearing dark clothes, a hood or cap and a skull printed face covering.
They were taken early Monday, police said in the tweet thread.
“BPD is investigating a hate crime incident where multiple stickers with swastikas were placed on businesses in Bellingham this weekend,” the tweet said. “Attaching surveillance footage of a person of interest. Average build and height, wearing a mask with a skull imprinted on it.”
Police didn’t say where the image of the person of interest was taken, but it appears to be outside the Mount Bakery on Champion Street, where social media reports said several of the stickers or flyers were placed late Friday or early Saturday morning.
Use of a swastika — the symbol of Nazi Germany and the American Nazi Party — is one of two specific acts of terror cited in Washington state’s hate crime legislation.
In World War II, a skull emblem symbolized the SS, a paramilitary force that oversaw the murder of 6 million Jews and 11 million others targeted by the Nazi regime.
“If you notice a sticker on your business, please call 911 and report it to BPD. Do not remove or touch the sticker. Our investigators will want to process it for any possible evidence,” Bellingham Police said on their Facebook page.
“If you have any information as to the identity of the person of interest, please use one of the contact options below to report it to us,” police said.
Contact information:
▪ Email tipline: www.cob.org/tips
▪ Phone tipline: 360-778-8611
▪ Investigator: Detective Travis Hauri at 360-778-8791.
Last weekend’s swastika incident was just the latest racist activity in the past two years.
▪ In March 2018, the Jewish section of Western Washington University’s library was vandalized with swastikas and anti-Semitic language and a swastika was drawn outside a faculty member’s office.
▪ Racist posters for the white nationalist organization Patriot Front have been placed in several Whatcom Country cities, from Ferndale to Bellingham to Lynden several times since summer 2019.
▪ Members of the Three Percenters, a far-right militia, appeared in downtown Bellingham last summer in what city officials said they saw as an attempt to intimidate residents participating in rallies and marches for the Black Lives Matter movement.
▪ Campaign signs for Whatcom county Executive Satpal Sidhu were vandalized with gunfire and a racist slur during his 2019 campaign.
▪ FBI data shows that crimes motivated by racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry remain markedly higher than those reported five years ago.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 7:33 AM.
CORRECTION: Detective Travis Hauri’s name was corrected Oct. 15, 2020.
