Richard Gootee

richard.gootee@courierpress.com

The idea that someone fired a round through the window of Evansville's Jewish temple should be unnerving enough, but Rabbi Gary Mazo said the exact location of where the apparent vandal chose to express their hatred makes it worse.

"Someone had to walk into a children's playground, then look into a classroom and then fire some sort of weapon. It was to inflict damage, but I think more importantly, (the person) tried to inflict fear," he said. "We're in this climate now where acts of hate are happening everywhere."

Mazo said the temple's office manager discovered the damage on Monday afternoon and told him about it on Tuesday morning, which is when it was reported to police. Both the Evansville Police Department and the FBI are investigating the incident. Local police ask anyone with information about the incident to call investigators at 812-436-7979 or the WeTip hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME.

Temple Adath B'Nai is located on the eastern edge of Evansville on Newburgh Road.

Mazo said investigators believe the damage was inflicted by a low-powered weapon, meaning that its unlikely that the incident, in his mind, is anything other than a "cowardly act by a bigot."

Despite that, Mazo said the Jewish community will not be deterred. The temple serves about 140 families from the Tri-State. Mazo, who has been in the Evansville for four years, could not recall any similar incidents during his time here.

"The goal was to make us afraid, but we're not going to let fear consume us," Mazo said. "We'll stand up to fear, we'll stand up to hatred and we'll stand together. We know this is not representative of our community. We know that we live in a community that supports each other."

Mazo didn't hold back when describing the vandalism, which he blamed on the current political climate that has fostered bigotry and xenophobia. During a Tuesday interview, he implored political leaders to stand up against attacks on any segments of the population who are "the other" in the United States.

He pointed out recent acts against Muslims, as well as the shootings of two Indian engineers last week in the Kansas City area.

"We need the people at the highest level to stand up and denounce this," Mazo said. "I think people really believe that they are doing what some of our leaders want them to do because there is so much hateful rhetoric out there that people feel like that this is simply just following up on the message that they heard through the campaign ... (Leaders) need to stand up and let people know that we don't tolerate this."

Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke was among those who condemned the incident. Winnecke visited the temple early Tuesday morning and then issued a statement in the afternoon. In that, he called the incident, "a disgusting act of hate and bigot that cannot be tolerated." Furthermore, he said similar incidents across the country are "sickening and unacceptable."

"Our community must come together in support of religious freedom and stand together with our Jewish brothers and sisters," Winnecke said in his statement. "The strong, diverse faith of Evansville is one of our great strengths. We must rely on that deep faith to collectively fight attitudes of hate and prejudice."

The group, Congregations Acting for Justice and Empowerment (CAJE), was also among those organizations who spoke out against the incident.

"CAJE is shocked, saddened to learn of the attack on Temple Adath B'Nai Israel," the group tweeted. "Once again we're reminded that (Evansville) is not immune to hate, discrimination (and) violence. CAJE denounces this act and the hateful attitude it represents."

The incident in Evansville comes the day after hate crime legislation failed in the Indiana statehouse -- and a day after the Indianapolis Jewish Community Center received a bomb threat.

It also follows a rash of anti-Semitic vandalism across the country, including at Drake University in Iowa and a Philadelphia cemetery. Vice President Mike Pence visited that cemetery last week.

Mazo said other area faith leaders have reached out to express their condolences and support.

"We have a very tight-knit interfaith community (here)," he said. "We do a lot of good interfaith work together, and we support one another. It's very much appreciated."

Investigators said Tuesday afternoon that they have not determined what specific kind of weapon was used in the incident. The temple already has cameras "everywhere," Mazo said, so he is hopeful the shot was captured on surveillance video. He also noted that he has asked law enforcement for additional patrols in the area of the temple since discovering the incident.