An alleged member of a white supremacist group was arrested Sunday after swastikas and hateful messages were painted on five homes in Nashville’s Sylvan Park area last year.
A 19-year-old Alabama man, who has not been identified by police, is the suspect in the case. Surveillance video of the vandalism showed two masked people when the vandalism occurred in the early morning hours of March 19, 2023.
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The arrested suspect is “an alleged member of a white supremacist group,” a Nashville police news release said.
The charges include five counts of vandalism, five counts of engaging in a criminal conspiracy, five counts of criminal trespass, five counts of civil rights intimidation and one count of theft.
The suspect was 17 years old when alleged crimes occurred, police said.
Video from one of the homes showed two masked men approaching the porch, police said. One of the individuals sprayed paint on the camera lens before hateful messages were painted on the property and a Colombian flag was taken, police said.
Detectives had information that the 19-year-old was likely at a concert in the Madison area on Sunday night.
The suspect was located and taken into custody without incident.
The vandalism occurred at homes on Westlawn Drive and Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho avenues, police said.
Contact Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or 615-726-5939 and on X, formerly known as Twitter @AndyHumbles.
This article originally appeared in the Nashville Tennessean: Nashville makes arrest over 2,023 swastikas and hate messages in Sylvan Park
