Headstones defaced with Nazi symbols at Jewish cemetery in Waukegan

Police were searching Monday for the person or people responsible for defacing headstones at a Jewish cemetery in Waukegan.

Police arrived just after 8 a.m. at the Congregation Am Echod Jewish Cemetery on Grand Avenue and found 39 headstones had been defaced with red spray-paint. Police said swastikas had been painted on 16 headstones.

"Hate does not have a home in Waukegan," Mayor Ann B. Taylor said. "I hope our officers promptly locate the perpetrators of this despicable act and hold them accountable."

A representative from Congregation Am Echod said the organization did not wish to comment beyond agreeing with the mayor's statement.

Anyone with information about the vandalism should call Waukegan police at (847) 360-9001.

Congregation Am Echod was founded in Waukegan in 1896. According to the organization's website, membership started to dwindle in the late 1970s, and the congregation eventually moved from Waukegan to Lindenhurst in 2004, then to Grayslake in 2017, and currently has no permanent home.