Police released surveillance video Monday of a fedora-wearing cyclist who roiled the city when he spray-painted swastikas at a Brooklyn yeshiva and a Jewish cemetery just hours after the mayoral election of Zohran Mamdani.
The NYPD is asking the public’s help tracking down the graffiti suspect caught on video.
The vile suspect, clad in black, began the hate-filled vandalism early Wednesday, approaching the Magen David Yeshivah around 6 a.m. at McDonald Ave. and Avenue T in Gravesend and spray-painteding swastikas on the front of the building.
A security guard at the yeshiva called 911 around 6:30 a.m. after discovering two swastikas in red paint on a pillar and window. Two “half swastikas” or “Zs” were also found painted on the building, which includes an Orthodox Jewish elementary school, police said.
Magen David Yeshiva in Gravesend, Brooklyn, was spray-painted with swastikas early Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Nicole Malliotakis via @NMalliotakis/X.com)
Nearly four hours later, and about a mile and a half away, the suspect approached the Washington Cemetery around 9:50 a.m. near McDonald Ave. and Bay Parkway and spray-painted swastikas on construction barriers before fleeing the scene on a bicycle, cops said.
Workers at the cemetery, discovered the vandalism just before 10 a.m.
“This morning at 6 a.m. our community was assaulted … by an individual so depraved of heart, so cruel and insensitive, they would dare to violate sacred spaces, the cemetery, a center and a school where children from preschool to 12th grade were gathering in just a few hours,” Gov. Hochul said at a press conference following the incidents.
“I strongly condemn this hateful display of antisemitism.”
NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force were investigating the incident.
Magen David Yeshiva in Gravesend, Brooklyn, was spray-painted with swastikas early Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Nicole Malliotakis via @NMalliotakis/X.com)
The hateful graffiti spree erupted just hours after Mamdani, who has been criticized for statements critics view as antisemitic, was elected mayor.
“This is a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city,” Mamdani said on X. “As Mayor, I will always stand steadfast with our Jewish neighbors to root the scourge of antisemitism out of our city.”
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at (800) 577-TIPS (8477).
