Antisemitic graffiti was found in a number of locations on and around the Bethesda Trolley Trail on Monday, and residents nearby say they're fed up with the growing number of hate incidents in the area.
"I think we've been through enough the last two years," said one woman who lives nearby. "It's like, wow, when do we get a break?"
"I just worry about where this country is going, now," said another resident.
Montgomery County police are looking for the vandals who left the graffiti along Tuckerman Lane in the Wildwood area.
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The graffiti ranges from antisemitic and racist hate speech to hate symbols, all spray-painted around Bethesda.
"It's horrible," said another man who lives nearby. "It's un-American. It's something that should never be done."
It was found on a bus stop near Tuckerman and Sugar Bush Lane, and on a brick wall near Old Georgetown Road.
The hate speech was so disturbing that one woman stopped her car in the middle of the busy road to get out and tell News4 how hurtful it is, though she asked not to be identified.
"I feel bad for my children and my grandchildren, for this world that they are inheriting, with all this anger," she said.
At another point along the Trolley Trail, white paint covers where bright, red paint previously showed disturbing images of a hanging scene alongside the words "No Mercy."
"It's quite horrific; it's completely unacceptable, and someone needs to put a stop to it," said Alan Ronkin with the American Jewish Committee. "It'll stop when good people decide that it has to stop."
A number of antisemitic incidents have taken place in recent weeks, from Ye -- the rapper formerly known as Kanye West -- tweeting antisemitic conspiracy theories in October, to antisemitic flyers found by residents in D.C.'s Kalorama neighborhood on Sunday.
The Anti-Defamation League tweeted on Sunday, when promoting a panel about preventing antisemitism, that "antisemitic incidents are on the rise."
Montgomery County police are investigating to find the person or persons responsible for the hate speech in Bethesda, with many questions still to be answered.
Police are offering a reward up to $10,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
