LOS ALAMITOS (CNS) - A Los Alamitos woman today found racial epithets and symbols spray-painted on her minivan, along with the initials of a white supremacist group on the driver-side door, police said.
Teri Barber, a registered home health nurse, left her home in the 4400 block of Howard Avenue to go to work about 7:30 a.m. and found the graffiti on her white Honda Odyssey, said Los Alamitos police Capt. Bruce McAlpine.
A swastika and SS lightning bolts were painted on the hood, the epithet known as the N word was on the passenger side door and the driver side door was marked with the initials NWOC, which, according to McAlpine, stands for Northwest Orange County Skins, a gang whose origins are in the Rossmoor, Seal Beach, Los Alamitos and Huntington Beach area.
The woman is white, and her three children -- the oldest is 18 -- are of mixed African American heritage, McAlpine said.
Barber told ABC7 that ``You can't see my car from the street, so they have to know that that's my car, and, who my children are, because there's no other black people that live in this building.''
She said two years ago she called police when similar words were found scrawled in chalk on the sidewalk.
Kevin O'Grady of the Anti-Defamation League, Orange County/Long Beach Regional Office, said his organization receives reports every year describing swastikas that have been sprayed on schools and apartments around the city.
The latest attack is part of an escalation in swastika tagging that is being tracked around Orange County, O'Grady said.
``We condemn this activity and bigoted attacks in the strongest terms,'' O'Grady said. ``No one should have to live with the threat of white supremacy, nor should anyone have to suffer racist and anti-Semitic attacks.''
O'Grady said a Fullerton high school and nearby vehicle were tagged recently as was an Orange County synagogue. He said the county's Jewish population suffered an increase in hate related crimes in 2008.
``Unfortunately, Orange County has a significant white supremacist population,'' O'Grady said. ``We have the largest white supremacist gang population and a significant white power music scene. The existence of this level of white supremacy can lead to hate incidence and hate crimes. It is up to all of us to demand an end to this bigotry and hate.''
Anyone with information on the vandalism, which was being investigated as a hate crime, was asked to call Detective Sgt. Sharon Kerbow at (562) 431- 2255.
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