Vandalism seems to be the order of the night for this Austin, Texas, man who made it his duty to deface not one but three mosques. Luckily, CCTV footage captured the disturbing act, and there might be a chance of catching the perpetrator.
A 43-second clip posted on Reddit detailed the vandalism that took place last week. Around 11:30 pm, the suspect walked into the mosque with a spray paint can in hand. He covered up with a bandana tied as a face mask and wrapped a scarf around his head to hide his hair color. Unfortunately, he wasn’t smart enough to hide the noticeable tattoo on his left arm.
“Good thing he doesn’t have any easily identifiable tattoos on his right arm,” one online user observed. Another replied, “I never understood this. If you’re going to be out committing crimes, why get tattoos? And if you have them, why would you ever, ever not have them covered?“
On several corners of the mosque building, the vandal drew the Star of David — a six-pointed star symbol representing Judaism and the Jewish people. Before proudly exiting, he made one last drawing on the gate. Given the ongoing Israel-Palestine war, it is not unlikely to interpret the suspect’s mischievous gesture as an act of protest. However, Redditors were quick to point out how unlikely he is to be Jewish because of how awful his drawing of the Star of David is. One can see how shabbily he draws the overlaid triangle symbol.
“I’m not a conspiracy theorist who always screams false flag but I’ve never met a Jew who hasn’t doodled the Star of David millions of times. I don’t buy that this guy is Jewish.”
User @AlwaysPerfetc shared a similar sentiment, writing, “I’ve seen plenty of bigoted Israel supporters, but this feels like a white supremacist instigator.” One Redditor argued that the Star of David wasn’t the best choice because it feels “too blatant” and wouldn’t necessarily be offensive to Islam.
“I doubt he is Jewish as well. I also doubt any Muslim would be offended by this or threatened. He woke up thinking he’ll add fuel to the fire, except he’s just an idiot. This is the type of dude who donates sausages to a mosque food bank thinking it would offend them. When in reality we just literally give it to those that can eat pork,” @HamM00dy penned.
However, another user was quick to disagree, calling the Jewish symbol “The new Nazi swastika.” Regardless of the suspect’s religion or belief, nothing warrants vandalism. Hopefully, he faces the full wrath of the law.
