A young boy with severe autism had a swastika carved into his back by students at his local high school – in an incident that is now on the radar of federal authorities.
The senseless act was carried out at Las Vegas‘s Clark High School just last month, and saw an unnamed 17-year-old student victimized. Several, including the boy’s parents, say it constitutes a hate crime.
In statements to the media, the boy’s mother, also unnamed, said the teenage victim is nonverbal and attended the school with a service dog – that is until she pulled him from class after spotting the hate symbol.
The child, moreover, is Jewish – and had been wearing a yarmulke when he was attacked. That said, the case remains unsolved, and the culprits at-large – due to the school not having security cameras in its classrooms, locker rooms, or bathrooms.
On Sunday, more than six weeks after the initial incident, the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) confirmed it was ready to join Nevada cops’ probe into the suspected hate crime, as it continues to incite outrage across the country.
A young boy with severe autism had a swastika carved into his back by students at his local high school on March 9
The act was carried out at Las Vegas’s Clark High School just last month, and saw the unnamed 17-year-old victimized. Several, including the boy’s parents, say it was a hate crime
‘My son is the only student I know of who wears a Kippah at the school,’ his mother, whishing to remain anonymous, told COLlive.com Tuesday, referring to a certain type of headwear worn by Jewish boys.
The Orthodox Jewish news service was the first outlet to report on the incident, which fellow Jewish publication YNet news said was being investigated by feds as a ‘suspected hate crime.’
In a statement Tuesday, however, the FBI contradicted the outlet’s claim – saying only it was ‘prepared’ to jump into cops’ current investigation at a moment’s notice.
‘We are aware of the incident and are in regular contact with local authorities,’ the agency said in a statement Saturday.
‘If during the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal civil rights violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate.’
Apart from outlet’s report, the agency’s statement also came in direct dispute to assertions recently delivered from the Anti-Defamation League of Nevada (ADL), who said the bureau was already part of the investigation and condemned the incident.
‘ADL condemns this violent, antisemitic act,’ the organization’s Regional Director Jolie Brislin said earlier this week, saying he was in contact with the agency.
‘Not only was this student targeted for his identifiable faith, but he was particularly vulnerable due to his disability. This incident illustrates points of intersectionality in how hate can show itself across marginalized communities,’ Brislin said.
‘ADL Nevada, in partnership with Jewish Nevada and the Safe Nevada Security Initiative, has been in close contact with the parents, CCSD and law enforcement, and will be working with Clark High School to provide antisemitism education.
‘School should be no place for hate and no student should be made to feel unsafe and threatened.’
More than a month later, the case remains unsolved and the culprits at-large – due to the school not having cameras in its classes, locker rooms, or bathrooms
The Clark County school district – comprised of some 374 schools and roughly 315,600 students in Sin City – claims cops employed by its 168-strong police force already conducted ‘a thorough investigation,’ but have yet to find anything that points to any students in particular
The boy’s mom has since pulled him from the public school, which has roughly 280 students
Meanwhile, district officials said that a police investigation has yet to produce anything of note – while the boy’s mother spoke to another Jewish outlet Wednesday about how she came across the swastika on her son’s back when he arrived home from school on March 9.
Speaking to The Jewish Press, the mom said that has soon as she spotted the symbol, she wrote an email a staffer tasked with shadowing her son that day, to ask whether at any point the teen was left unattended.
‘Did he use the bathroom?’ the mom reportedly wrote. ‘Did he have any meltdowns yesterday? I would think this would have caused him to have a meltdown or get agitated.’
The mom claimed the shadow quickly responded by writing the boy ‘had a good day,’ with ‘no meltdowns or anything,’ while asserting to the mother that her son ‘was with me the whole day [and] he didn’t use the restroom.’
The mother when on to charge that the child refused to use the restroom the next day – spurring her to file a report with the Clark County School District Police two dats later.
Explaining while she filed the police report, she claimed: ‘The shadow has kept [my son] from class in the past. I dropped him off at school one time last year and I got an email from the teacher and occupational therapist that he was absent from class.
‘I pulled my son out of school because it’s an unsafe environment.’
Meanwhile, the school district – comprised of some 374 schools and roughly 315,600 students in Sin City – claims cops employed by its 168-strong police force already conducted ‘a thorough investigation,’ but have yet to find anything that points to any students in particular.
The district also said that ‘other law enforcement agencies’ had reviewed the information compiled during district police’s probe ‘and found no evidence that would indicate the origin of the injuries.
The mother claims a page tasked with shadowing her son the day of the assault somehow missed it, and slammed the school as ‘an unsafe place’
‘CCSD Police took a report of injuries discovered by a parent at home in mid-March. Police conducted a thorough investigation, including interviews with staff and a review of available camera footage,’ said Wednesday, a day after COLive reported on the suspected hate crime.
‘The investigation found no evidence that would indicate the origin of the injuries.’
The district went on to insist that it ‘is inclusive of all races, ethnicities, cultures, religions/beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, socioeconomic statuses, abilities, and living arrangements’, and ‘will not tolerate discriminatory behaviors.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Clark County School District for comment.
The incident comes amid a recent rash of anti-Semitic-related incidents across the US, with much of the behavior exhibited amongst youngsters predominantly in public schools.
Statistics released Thursday by the (ADL) showed how antisemitic incidents of all kinds were on the rise in 2022 – up 36 percent from the year prior.
Of these, 53 percent were against Orthodox Jews, whose method of dress makes them prime targets for prospective hate crime culprits.
As for the number of incidents, the league said there were 3,697 alone last year – the most in a year since ADL began its tracking in 1979.
The findings come after a rise in attacks on synagogues and Jewish community centers, and an apparent increase in celebs like Kanye West spreading anti-Semitic views on social media.
A fifth of Americans now believe in at least six anti-Jewish ideas — that’s nearly double the number in 2019 and the highest share in 30 years
Other recent scandals have involved the Oscar-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg, Los Angeles Lakers player Meyers Leonard, former president Donald Trump, and Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO, called the results ‘stunning and sobering’ and a ‘wake-up call to the entire country.’
‘There is an alarming increase in anti-Semitic views and hatred across nearly every metric, at levels unseen for decades,’ he warned.
