In what police describe as a race-motivated hate crime, satanic symbols were found scrawled on a Los Angeles monument that honors Japanese-American war veterans, investigative sources said Thursday.
The city council of Los Angeles and other local authorities have offered a $20,000 reward for information on the culprit.
The monument was dedicated in Little Tokyo in 1999 and includes the names of about 16,000 Japanese-American veterans who took part in battles mainly in Europe to demonstrate their loyalty to the United States during World War II.
Police said some 20 satanic symbols were found on the granite pillars of the Go For Broke monument March 18.
Jan Perry, a city councilwoman who proposed the reward, said she found it unthinkable that someone could deface a monument that pays tribute to Japanese-American veterans who served their country even though they were often labeled enemies of the state.