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AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) An Aurora Jewish community center is still repairing its building after it was vandalized.
Leaders of the center are now speaking out as the Aurora Police Department is trying to find out who did this.
The Ohr Avner Community Center, near Mississippi Avenue and Kingston Street in Aurora, shared surveillance video with FOX31, which shows a suspect at around 8:30 p.m. Sunday throwing several rocks at windows and a door, breaking the glass. The suspect was seen wearing a blue hoodie possibly The North Face brand blue jeans and brown or gray shoes.
“The rabbi came in at 6 a.m. … he saw the damage … he called the police right away,” said Yehuda Aminov of Ohr Avner Community Center. “Everybody was very surprised. We left Russia, former Soviet Union, in the ’90s in order to get away from this type of antisemitism, whatever it was. But, it didn’t happen because people love us.”
The suspect reportedly did not break inside or steal anything.
Police on Tuesday shared a photo of a suspect that was seen on cameras throwing rocks at the Ohr Avner Community Center. (Credit: Aurora Police Department)
“We have a lot of holy books there worth a lot of money and thank God. Decide to break some windows, decide to make our life a little harder, but as a community, we pulled through and we’re going to pull through and we’re going to rebuild and hopefully make it better,” said Aminov. “Unfortunately, this stuff happens. It was a very strong reminder of the past.”
Although it’s not confirmed if that suspect had antisemitic intentions, Aurora police’s Bias-Motivated Crimes detective has been notified. The Jewish center has never had vandalism like this in its 20 years of being on the property.
“We did have people come up and scream obscenities at us, just standard, ‘go back from where you’re from.’ We had somebody throw a can of soda out the window and almost hit one of the members in the head when they were walking back home from the services. Little things here and there,” said Aminov.
Several windows are currently boarded up, waiting for new glass. The door is now fixed, and the next step is to hopefully put a fence around the property.
“Some people will love us, some people won’t. If we stay together and we continue to be strong and pull together as one nation with one heart, we’ll continue to survive,” said Aminov.
The center started a fundraiser to help with expenses, raising over $15,000 as of Wednesday night.
