New Jersey Diner Defaced With Anti-Semitic Graffiti

WANTAGE, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Someone defaced a New Jersey diner with anti-Semitic graffiti, leaving employees shocked and angry.

Workers arriving at the Airport Diner in Wantage on Sunday found swastikas, "Heil Hitler" and "Kill Jews" written on the walls. A freezer also was vandalized.

"I didn't know what to think," Miguel Velez, who posted pictures of the vandalism to Facebook, told the New Jersey Herald. "Why here, of all places?"

Sharon Smith, of Frankford, said she arrived for her shift and wasn't really sure of what she was seeing on the building. Once she realized what it was, Smith said she could not believe it.

Smith called it "random acts of stupidity."

"I want to believe it's a bunch of young kids that don't know the meanings of the messages, they think it's a cool thing to do or whatever," she said. "But, in another sense, you just don't know anymore."

Manager Robin Nargiso said she was heartbroken.

"When I came down here and I saw all the mess I was absolutely heartbroken," Nargiso said. "People are asking 'Why? Why did this happen?' We still don't know why. There was no reason for it."

Nargiso said members of the community, including customers, came together, cleaned up the mess and painted over the graffiti in a day.

"It was very nice to see that even though it was hate messages that were on the building there's still a lot of people that care and wanted to help," she said. "The hate -- we're not going to have it here, it's not going to happen. We all care about each other, we all worry about each other, so it's not going to dampen us, it's not going to make a difference. It actually brought us closer together."

"The community over at the Sussex Skydive they offered their help, customers that come in here they offered their help. They got the building painted, they pulled together and they helped us out a lot," Nargiso said."

State police said no arrests have been made.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)