Police: Vandalism at predominantly black church on Florida's Space Coast was a hate crime
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Authorities say the vandalism of a predominantly black church on Florida's Space Coast was a hate crime.
Melbourne Police Department officials told a news conference Monday that they are offering a cash award for information leading to any arrests. Police say vandals wrote "SS Charleston 2" on the side of a pickup truck parked at New Shiloh Christian Church and then ransacked a section of the church.
Police say they believe the graffiti refers to the June 17 massacre of nine churchgoers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
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It's the third time in six months New Shiloh has been vandalized. Florida Today reports (http://on.flatoday.com/1JefAvg) that the 1,500-member church previously was set on fire, and that juveniles later scrawled a swastika and spray-painted a noose on a storage unit.
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Information from: Florida Today (Melbourne, Fla.), http://www.floridatoday.com