Police arrested a teen boy accused of damaging a Northeast Philadelphia synagogue. Police announced Wednesday a 14-year-old boy was charged in the vandalism of Temple Menorah-Keneseth Chai on Tyson Avenue.
A maintenance worker arrived at the synagogue Monday morning to find a broken window and baseball-sized rock inside the decades’ old temple, Philadelphia Police said.
Workers at the temple believe the vandalism took place over the weekend. Surveillance video shows two teens between the ages of 12 and 14 outside the synagogue Sunday shortly after 5 p.m., police said. Investigators treated the incident as a vandalism rather than a hate crime. Police say they spoke with a second teen but have not yet revealed if he'll face charges as well.
Monday's incident was the third time the synagogue had been vandalized. The FBI investigated after December and January incidents of vandalism that prompted the Citizens Crime Commission to offer a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. The synagogue installed surveillance video after eight windows were broken in the January incident.
No one was injured in any incident. Synagogue President Malcolm Adler claimed the synagogue was also vandalized three to four years ago when someone painted a swastika on an outside wall.
