NEWTON — Charges have yet to be filed against the man accused of writing two swastikas and the phrase “Sieg heil” in chalk on playground equipment at The Aven at Newton Highlands apartment complex at 99 Needham St. on Sept. 2.
Ezekial Dangerfield, 20, a resident of the complex, was identified from security footage at the complex, according to Newton Police spokesperson Lt. Hagai Brandon. Police were called around 8 p.m. on Sept. 2 about the graffiti, which “was investigated as a hate incident and the proper notifications were made,” Brandon said.
“The following day, patrol did a follow-up, and they got surveillance footage, and staff of the apartment complex were able to identify him from the footage,” he said.
Dangerfield was detained and summonsed to court for defacement of property, Brandon said. Police are not seeking any other suspects.
Newton District Court worker Jordan Marcus could find no public record of Dangerfield appearing before the court after his summons. This likely means the case will go before a magistrate in a private hearing to determine whether there is probable cause for a prosecution, he said.
Dangerfield’s probable cause hearing is scheduled for mid-October, Brandon said.
The graffiti was discovered by a 12-year-old Jewish girl who was visiting her aunt, Lily Davis, according to a WCVB-TV report. The girl, who is studying for her bat mitzvah, said she recognized the symbols from lessons at school.
The discovery left her niece in tears, Davis said. “She called her mom, my sister. She was crying. She was like, ‘I thought it didn’t happen now. But it does.’”
Aven maintenance crews removed the graffiti shortly after it was reported.
Newton Police view the graffiti as an isolated incident. “We haven’t seen a rash of incidents of this nature around the community, and there was no apparent threat to public safety,” Brandon said.
While police do not consider the graffiti to rise to the level of a hate crime or hate incident, Brandon said there have been 10 antisemitic incidents so far in 2026 and that there were 20 in 2025.
“We take these incidents of hate extremely seriously and we will continue to educate the public on both the effects these acts have on our citizens and that these acts of hate will not be tolerated in our community,” he noted in a written statement.
Contact reporter Brett M. Rhyne at brett@jewishjournal.org.
