‘A textbook case of a hate crime.’ Man charged with painting swastikas on synagogue and on grounds of Jewish school, smashing windows at other synagogues

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown speaks during a press conference at Congregation B’nei Ruven, 6350 N. Whipple St. in West Rogers Park, about hate crime charges filed against a man accused of spray-painting yellow swastikas on a synagogue and on the grounds of a Jewish high school on the North Side, Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 1, 2022. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

A man with a long criminal record and an apparent history of mental illness is accused of going on a hate crime spree in West Rogers Park last weekend, spray-painting yellow swastikas on a synagogue and on the grounds of a Jewish high school in Rogers Park, smashing windows at two other synagogues and making threatening gestures.

Calling the allegations “a textbook case of a hate crime,” Judge Barbara Dawkins ordered Shahid Hussain, 39, held on $250,000 bail. If he gets out of jail, she warned, he must stay away from the places he vandalized.