Claymont resident tells of 'hate crime' vandalism - The News Journal
Ameerah Green was shocked Sunday afternoon when she walked out the front door of her Claymont home and saw the front yard was torn up and vandalized. But that wasn't the worst of it. Minutes later, she and her husband, Bryant, found a swastika scratched into the paint of her 2004 Mercury Mountaineer's hood and a racial slur scratched into its rear hatch door. Her husband's 1995 Lexus LS 400 also was scratched from the headlight to tail light and her SUV was scratched around the entire body. Both vehicles were parked on the street in front of their home on Denham Ave. The Greens called 911. New Castle County police said Monday the criminal mischief incident is being investigated as a hate crime. The couple doesn't have insurance that would pay for the repainting of both vehicles, Green said, "so it will just have to come out of pocket. After noticing the vandalism, Green said she immediately had a bad feeling, "so I turned around and got my husband. The swastika and racial slur were the first sign of any racially motivated hostility the family has felt in the neighborhood. The yard damage was upsetting and discouraging, especially where her plants were torn up. "We had just planted so many flowers at the beginning of spring," she said. "We had a ceramic pot in the middle of our yard with four or five different plants in it and they took the whole ceramic pot. Source: www.delawareonline.com
