Racist and antisemitic flyers distributed around Pittsburgh area under investigation
Pittsburgh police and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh are asking for help tracking down a group of people who they say were distributing hateful flyers targeting minority groups with a focus on the Jewish community over the weekend.
It comes amid an ongoing spike in antisemitic incidents across the country and in the Pittsburgh area since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Michele Feingold felt disgusted on Sunday evening when she found a racist flyer inside a Ziploc sandwich bag filled with kernels of corn on her front lawn. She had just been talking with her neighbors, who discovered similar flyers on the street targeting Jews in the neighborhood.
"There's so much ignorance and so much hatred," Feingold said. "I'm not surprised by it. I'm never surprised by it, and in a sense, we're sort of used to it, but we'll never get used to it, because who wants to?"
Pittsburgh police said they're investigating several reports of these flyers in Squirrel Hill and Shadyside and are working with the FBI and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.
The federation's director of community security, Shawn Brokos, said they're aware of more than 100 flyers found in the city, discriminating against various minority groups, but with the Jewish community being a driving motivator. They were spreading antisemitic, racist, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ+ messages.
"This vehicle was driving around, windows down. They were shouting antisemitic comments out the window, throwing these flyers in front of people," Brokos said.
Police said officers canvassed the area to try and find the suspect but didn't locate anyone.
Brokos and a witness also confirmed that similar flyers were discovered the same day in Peters Township, Washington County.
Brokos said the people responsible are affiliated with a known white supremacy organization, and they've encountered them other times in the past five years, but never this blatantly.
"They're not known to be violent, but they very much want to have that shocking effect, and harass and intimidate people," Brokos said.
Brokos believes, according to witnesses, the group was driving a tan Dodge Durango with Ohio license plates, as seen in surveillance photos in Squirrel Hill and Peters Township.
Feingold hopes they're caught and face some kind of consequences.
"We all want a better world for all of us and the next generations," Feingold said.
If you have any information about these flyers, you're asked to call Pittsburgh police at 412-422-6520 or 9-1-1.
Officials say flyers "have no place in Pittsburgh"
Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement that "the materials that were distributed in parts of Squirrel Hill today are reprehensible and have no place in Pittsburgh."
Mayor Gainey said his office is communicating with the Jewish Federation and working with Pittsburgh Police and the FBI to investigate the matter.
Corey O'Connor, a candidate for mayor in Tuesday's upcoming primary election, said the acts "have no place in our city."
