ANNAPOLIS, Md. — In a space filled with playground equipment, benches and picnic tables at Bywater Park in Annapolis, someone armed with spray paint added messages and images of hate last weekend.
“I don’t understand this,” said Walter Judd, as he walked his dog past the park, “Is this kids just being silly and stupid? I don’t know. Is it adults that are trying to pass forward some type of agenda? I don’t know. I don’t understand it. Like I said, I’ve been here 22 years and I’ve never seen this before.”
Along with these tamer forms of the graffiti, officers found racial and homophobic slurs, as well as obscene drawings and language.
For now, police have no suspects, and they’ve not been able to isolated any images from home security cameras in the area to help break the case.
“We have no idea from whence in came and it seems that no particular individual or groups were targeted,” said Bernie Bennett of the Annapolis Police Department, “It just seems it occurred to somebody to come and put something they thought would be offensive, and they were right, it was.”
Messages filled with hate in a space typically filled with the sound of children and laughter.
“This park is used by parents and children of all ethnicity. You’ll see Hispanics, Blacks, whites, Asian,” said Judd, “I try to get along with as many people as possible, and I don’t understand this.”
if you have any information, which could help police, you can call detectives at 410-260-3439 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP.
