A holiday display at a southeast Denver residence is less festive after vandals slashed an inflatable hanukiah Saturday.

The vandalism happened at about 7:50 p.m. Saturday on South Holly Place, south of East Yale Avenue and north of East Hampden Avenue, in the Holly Hills/Holly Ridge neighborhood.

After posting video surveillance footage on social media, homeowner Brad Averch said that he and his family have received a remarkable amount of support and offers of aid to recover from the damage to the hanukiah, a nine-candle candelabrum for Hanukkah.

“Honestly, for what could have been a bad thing we found out there is a lot of good in the community,”  Averch said. “People have reached out to us and have been very generous.”

Averch has received offers by people who want to help fix or replace the display, with some offering to drop by the home to do the repair on site. One person offered to replace the damaged hanukiah inflatable with their own display.

The video clip from a home surveillance camera, posted on Nextdoor on Monday, shows three people run from the slashed illuminated figure which drops to the lawn. The trio runs south down the street and out of the camera frame.

Averch reported the incident to Denver police online and in the Nextdoor post he asks that neighbors check their property surveillance footage for additional images of the three vandals and to pass any new information along.

“If anyone has video captures around this time, we’d appreciate any additional information we can gather,” Averch said on the Nextdoor post.

Just under 300 people reacted to the Nextdoor post with 172 people leaving comments as of Tuesday afternoon. People expressed outrage about the vandalism, with many offering kind words of support for the victimized family. Some questioned whether the vandalism is a form of anti-Semitism.

“We don’t know what their intent was …  if the intent was simply vandalism, the message sent to us could be interpreted as something so much worse,” Averch said. “We do feel targeted, it’s hard not to feel targeted.”

Averch, who is married and has a daughter, has lived at the residence for eights years. The family also has two dogs. The property hasn’t been vandalized before in the time they’ve been there.

Denver police, in a statement, said an investigating into the incident is ongoing.

Averch said he hopes reports of the vandalism galvanize the neighborhood and lead to an awareness and that neighbors look out for each other.

“Really for us the bigger point is to inform neighbors,” he said. “Hey, this happened — keep an eye on your stuff. That’s the big point, help each other out.”

It won’t be long before the Averch display is back up celebrating Hanukkah, known as the Festival of Lights.

“At least we know we have solutions (help),” Averch said. “We are going to put it back up and continue to celebrate the way we do.”

Source: Read Full Article