Dozens of headstones toppled at Jewish cemetery in Missouri
UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. — Vandals have damaged or tipped over as many as 200 headstones at a Jewish cemetery in suburban St. Louis, leaving the region’s Jewish community shaken and anxious.
No arrests have been made in attacks that happened late Sunday or early Monday at the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, Missouri. Investigators have not yet determined if it was a hate crime or vandalism, but the impact on the Jewish community is the same, said Karen Aroesty, St. Louis regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.
“Anxiety is high,” Aroesty said Tuesday. “Your loved ones are there. Your memories are there.”
Police Lt. Fredrick Lemons said investigators are looking at surveillance camera footage to help determine who pushed over the headstones at the cemetery that opened in 1893. Aroesty said many of tipped over stones were broken, but that there didn’t appear to be any graffiti.