Los Angeles

2 Students Arrested in Connection With Hate Speech Graffiti at Pacific Palisades High School

Police Tuesday arrested two students allegedly responsible for hate-speech vandalism at their high school in Pacific Palisades.

Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Tina Nieto said the students were released to the custody of their parents. Because they are juveniles, their names will not be released.

Graffiti that included swastikas and made references to gays and the KKK was spray-painted on Palisades Charter High School, 15777 Bowdoin St., over the weekend. The vandalism is believed to have been committed about 6 a.m. Sunday.

The arrests were announced within hours of Councilman Mike Bonin's introduction of a motion to offer a $50,000 reward in the case.

He said whoever was responsible "represents an ongoing threat to the safety of the people of Los Angeles."

Bonin added he was "horrified by the awful, disgusting and offensive hate speech graffiti'' left around the school, which serves students from Pacific Palisades, Palisades Highlands, Kenter Canyon and portions of Brentwood.

"We cannot allow hate and intolerance to threaten our neighborhoods and our school children,'' he said.

Students rallied Monday after the hate speech appeared, staging a "sit-out."

Rod Aragon, whose son is a sophomore at Palisades, took action as soon as he encountered the hate speech graffiti on Sunday.

"There's been some vandalism here within our school and a couple more racial slurs on the sidewalk," Aragon said in a video he posted to Facebook. "This cannot be tolerated here within the Palisades, so I'm removing it now."

Using spray paint, Aragon covered up the profanity and wrote his own message: "Love."

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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