Some residents in a Costa Mesa apartment complex woke up last week to find swastikas spray painted on their vehicles.  

Police said the incident occurred at the Ava Apartment complex along Santa Ana Avenue and that vandals spray painted the cars sometime between 6 p.m. on Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday.  

“No, this isn’t 1939 Germany but Costa Mesa, CA. 2023,” the non-partisan U.S. based organization Stop AntiSemitism tweeted about the incident.

On Saturday, the Costa Mesa Police Department said that it was aware of the photo circulating on social media of the swastika spray painted on a silver Mercedes Benz.  

  • Swastikas spray painted on cars in Costa Mesa
    Some residents of a Costa Mesa apartment complex found swastikas painted on their cars last week. (StopAntisemism.org)
  • Swastikas spray painted on cars in Costa Mesa
    Some residents in the Ava Apartment complex in Costa Mesa had swastikas spray painted on their cars earlier last week. (KTLA)

“We condemn this act of vandalism and the use of this abhorrent and hurtful symbol,” the police department said in a statement.  

An audit of antisemitic incidents by the Anti-Defamation League found that vandalism, harassment and assaults increased in Southern California, as well as across the state in 2022, the Los Angeles Times reported.  

Costa Mesa police are investigating the situation, but do not have any information or descriptions of suspects at this point.  

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to contact CMPD’s Investigations Service Bureau at 714-754-5205.