Find Your Daily Voice
76°
Man, 20, Charged In Emerson Graffiti Spree, Symbol Not Anti-Semitic
A local man who'd marked two Emerson schools and other areas in town with graffiti that was mistakenly believed to be anti-Semitic was about to do it again when borough police grabbed him Wednesday night, authorities confirmed.
Brendan Rooney, 20, "was doing the same thing that he saw a [hip-hop] group he found on social media doing," Lt. Michael McDermott said. "There was no evidence at all of this being a bias crime."
Rooney was mimicking a symbol used by the Brooklyn band Pro-Era "that can be mistaken for a swastika," his friend, Ian Maltzan, told Daily Voice. "It means inner peace."
Th…