San Leandro man arrested over spray-painted slurs

Racial slurs and symbols were spray-painted on a San Leandro school district building. Racial slurs and symbols were spray-painted on a San Leandro school district building. Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close San Leandro man arrested over spray-painted slurs 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A suspect was arrested Wednesday in connection with racial slurs and symbols spray-painted on a San Leandro school district building, police said.

School district employees discovered the racist graffiti Monday morning on a building on Juniper Street.

After reviewing home surveillance footage, canvassing the neighborhood and sending physical evidence for laboratory processing, investigators identified a suspect.

The 21-year-old man, from San Leandro, was located and detained on the 1200 block of Manor Street at 4 p.m. The suspect had been riding a bicycle that had recently been spray painted red and white, the same colors used in the graffiti, police said.

He was arrested on unrelated charges, including probation violation and later interviewed at the police station

Officials declined to identify the suspect, saying they would release more details after reviewing possible charges, including hate-motivated vandalism, with the Alameda County District Attorney.

“Our commitment to our community was to solve this as quickly as possible,” said Lt. Robert McManus. “Without disclosing details of the interview, I assure everyone that we have the person responsible for the crime in our custody.

“This community cannot and will not tolerate this type of crime.”

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker