UPDATE February 26 at 5:50 pm:
A North Fort Myers community had antisemitic graffiti drawn on a pickleball shed over the weekend.
Fox 4’s Bella Line obtained a report by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, she found out the messages were not the only thing found at the pickleball courts.
Because of how graphic the slurs are, we can't show you most of the images. The antisemitic messages were found Sunday morning at the Pine Lakes community, along with other vandalism.
Hear from residents who say some people in their pickleball group are afraid:
"Sunday morning, I wrote by the pickleball courts, and I noticed something was wrong,” said Gail Guile, President of the Pine Lakes Pickleball Association. “Long story short, I looked into it, contacted someone from ELS, and was told that a fire had been started and then I looked at our pickleball sheds and noticed that graffiti was written.”
According to the report by LCSO, ELS owns the pickleball courts.
The report also says one of their workers found the mesh screening around the court had been set on fire. They also found items thrown in the parking lot, including pens.
Bella Line reached out to Pine Lakes Country Club and they responded with this statement:
"On Sunday morning, vandalism and hateful graffiti was found by the community pickleball courts. The graffiti was removed the same day. We condemn all forms of hateful messaging and are cooperating fully with the police and fire departments as they investigate this incident."
Some people who live here Fox 4 that some residents are now afraid because of these hateful messages.
"We don't need this kind of stuff,” said Steve Seifer, Executive Vice President of the Pine Lakes Pickleball Association. "We have several gay and lesbian couples in our community. They are afraid, and one pair of gay gentlemen said they were afraid to participate in any of our activities because of this.”
The investigation is still ongoing, so if you know any information about this call the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
"It's a cowardly act. It just really is, and I just hope that somebody speaks up, if they talk to somebody, drop a dime on them and let the police know who's doing it,” said John Jenkins, Vice President of the Pine Lakes Pickleball Association.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says they are investigating a criminal mischief incident at the Pine Lakes Community where Antisemitic language was written on a shed.
Deputies say they are following leads, reviewing surveillance video, speaking with witnesses, and checking the area close to where the markings were found.
This is a developing story.
Fox 4's Ryan Kruger's series of reports on the “State of Hate” has documented the rise in Antisemitism in Florida, with a special focus on the use of social media. You can keep up with his reporting by clicking any of the stories below:
