Brookline Police launch hate crime investigation after brick thrown via kosher grocery retailer window

Brookline Police are investigating an alleged hate crime incident after a brick studying “Free Palestine” was thrown via a neighborhood kosher grocery retailer window over evening.

“This morning we received a report from the owner of The Butcherie that a brick had been thrown through their window overnight,” Brookline Police mentioned in a press release Sunday. … “Written on the face of the brick in large red letters were the words ‘Free Palestine.’”

Simply after midnight Sunday, police mentioned, a number of suspects in masks approached the native kosher grocery retailer at 428 Harvard St. from Coolidge Avenue and threw the brick via the window.

The preliminary investigation signifies that there have been at the very least two suspects within the incident, although the precise quantity was no confirmed, Brookline Police said. The suspects allegedly fled again down Coolidge Avenue to an unknown location after the vandalization.

No different companies seem to have been focused “as of now,” the police mentioned Sunday.

Brookline Police recognized the case as a “hate crime investigation” with malicious harm of property.

“This is deeply concerning and totally unacceptable,” Gov. Maura Healey wrote in a put up on X on Sunday. “Acts of violence and intimidation have no place in our communities. We stand with our Jewish neighbors against antisemitism. Everyone deserves to live, pray and do business without fear in Massachusetts.”

The Mixed Jewish Philanthropies mentioned Sunday they’re monitoring the state of affairs and have reached out to the Brookline Jewish group and the enterprise house owners to supply assist.

“Our Communal Security team is in close touch with Brookline Police and owners of the business while our Center for Combating Antisemitism is working with JCRC, ADL and other community partners,” the Mixed Jewish Philanthropies mentioned in a press release.