Suspect arrested in hate graffiti incident

Stanford Police have made an arrest in connection with the spray painting of hateful graffiti on two campus student residences this past spring.

Lucas Joseph Ninow, 19, was arrested in Mountain View on Wednesday, June 24, on an arrest warrant for one count of felony vandalism, one count of misdemeanor vandalism and one count of a misdemeanor hate crime. 

Ninow, who is not a Stanford student, was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail at 1:20 p.m. Wednesday. He was to be arraigned Thursday afternoon. 

Spray-painted swastikas were discovered April 26 on the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house on the Stanford campus, and additional graffiti was found on the Casa Italiana student residence.

Stanford President John Hennessy issued a statement condemning the vandalism shortly after it was discovered. "This level of incivility has no place at Stanford," Hennessy wrote. "I ask everyone in the university community to stand together against intolerance and hate, and to affirm our commitment to a campus community where discourse is civil, where we value differences, and where every individual is respected."

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