BOSTON (AP) - The Latest on vandalism to the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston (all times local):
2:40 p.m.
The lawyer for a man charged with throwing a rock through a glass panel at the New England Holocaust Memorial says her client suffers from mental health issues.
James Isaac was held on $750 bail on Wednesday on charges of malicious destruction of personal property and destruction of a place of memorial. But he had his bail revoked and was held for violating the terms of his probation in other pending cases.
Not-guilty pleas were entered on his behalf.
Prosecutors say the 21-year-old Boston man smashed the roughly 9-foot-tall (2.7-meter) panel at about 2 a.m. He was quickly arrested after a witness called police.
His court-appointed attorney, Rebecca Kozak, said her client is “struggling considerably” and is participating in a partial hospitalization program at a mental health facility.
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12:30 p.m.
An act of vandalism at the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston has been met with sharp condemnation from elected officials and religious groups.
Police were called by a witness to the memorial early Wednesday to find a glass panel on one of the memorial’s six 54-foot-high towers shattered.
At a news conference at the memorial, Mayor Marty Walsh said the city stands “shoulder to shoulder” with the Jewish community.
The president of Combined Jewish Philanthropies said when Jews hear the sound of breaking glass, “we shudder,” a reference to Kristallnacht.
The Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said, “Desecration of a religious memorial is always heartbreaking and must be condemned.”
A 21-year-old Boston man has been charged and faces arraignment later Wednesday.
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8:15 a.m.
Police say they have arrested a man who used a rock to smash a glass panel at the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston.
James Isaac faces arraignment Wednesday on charges of malicious destruction of personal property and destruction of a place of memorial. It could not be determined if he has a lawyer.
Police were called by a witness to the memorial early Wednesday to find a glass panel on one of the memorial’s 54-foot-high towers shattered.
The memorial that opened in 1995 is on the Freedom Trail near Faneuil Hall and City Hall and is open at all times.
The six glass towers are lit internally and etched with millions of numbers that represent tattoos on the arms of many Jews sent to Nazi death camps.
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Online: New England Holocaust Memorial, https://www.nehm.org
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