NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A Brooklyn building was intentionally set on fire and is now being investigated as a hate crime after a painted swastika was found in the hallway, police said Wednesday.
The FDNY was called to the scene of a smoke condition at around 1:20 a.m. at a mixed-use building on Myrtle Ave. in Fort Greene on Tuesday, an FDNY spokesperson told the Daily News.
“The fire wasn’t some sort of mistake. It was an attack. We can’t get our brains around it,” Jacob Fernberg, a resident at the building, told the Daily News.
Salon Rhed, located on the ground floor of the four-story building, was in flames when the FDNY arrived. One firefighter was injured while trying to put out the flames and no tenants were injured. The hateful symbol was discovered in the first-floor hallway after firefighters put out the flames, an NYPD spokeswoman said.
“Our neighbors from upstairs were banging on the window. Jake went into the kitchen and it was filled with smoke. We got our cat, Wednesday, into a carrier, and went down the fire escape,” said Claire Chatinover, 27, who lives in a second-floor apartment with her partner Fernberg, told the Daily News.
Chatinover was asked whether the swastikas had been there before the fire.
“Of course, we’d recognize them. We’re Jewish,” she said. “They were not there before.”
She also added that the hate symbol could be targeted at any of the minorities living in the building including an Asian couple, and an LGBTQ couple and the salon is a Black-owned business.
“The swastika has come to mean white pride, so it could have been directed at any of us,” she said.
The salon organized a GoFundMe to help cover thousands of dollars worth of damage and help employees being out of work.
"We are asking for your support during this time as we work to build back the Salon Rhed, that Fort Greene residents have come to love," Salon Rhed's Instagram post said.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is now investigating the fire.
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