A hot yoga studio in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn was broken into last week in what police are calling a hate crime, after a man vandalized the common area, stole a few items and drew a swastika on the chalkboard.
Cops said a suspect entered Yoga Hell on East 17th Street and Avenue Z on July 18 through the unlocked front door sometime after 11:30 a.m., when the studio usually closes for the afternoon.
Although the front door has a code, police said the man came in after someone else left. He then found his way to the fourth floor studio, where he wreaked havoc in the common area: removing the studio’s mezuzah — a traditional Jewish door marker that contains verses from the Torah on a parchment scroll inside — ransacking the cubbies, throwing soap all over the bathroom floor, and unplugging the washer and dryer.
He then drew a swastika on the chalkboard with the message “Nazi Punx F**k Off,” according to photos shared by Katia Riva, the owner.
Riva said she was out of the studio dealing with a family emergency when her staff let her know about the incident.
“At first they thought it was just a mess,” she said. “As they were cleaning everything, they realized there was a swastika and somebody did it on purpose.”
Riva said she is puzzled as to why a stranger would do such a thing. She doesn’t recognize the man as any of the clients she’s had since she opened the studio in 2017.
“I’m upset, and I feel violated,” she said. “It can be anti-semitic, you can tell I’m Russian, maybe it’s that. Maybe it’s somebody who is just mentally not stable, maybe it’s kids playing with this, we just don’t know.”
As Riva and her staff worked to clean up the mess, they discovered the mezuzah on the floor, and the crucial prayer scroll inside missing. She is unsure if the suspect took anything else, but surveillance images appear to show him with a black yoga mat under his arm.
In an effort to make students continue to feel safe in the studio, Riva said she…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply