Four teens are facing criminal charges for allegedly spray-painting hate-filled graffiti under a bridge in Yorktown last month.
Police say four Croton-Harmon High School students scrawled racist and antisemitic vandalism and tried to frame it on another student to bully him.
The teens are now facing criminal mischief and impersonation charges.
"These are kids who used attention-grabbing fear and hysteria using racial and antisemitic language to attempt to cause issues for a peer," says Yorktown Police Department Chief Robert Noble.
The teens allegedly wrote a racial slur targeting Black people, another against Jews and a swastika while adding the name and initials of an uninvolved classmate.
The Croton-Harmon School District released a statement that read in part, "We are reviewing this matter and will address it ...we want to reiterate that this incident is contrary to our values as a school district."
"This was a slight against our community. This was an attack on the fabric of our community," says Yorktown Town Supervisor Matt Slater.
Slater says the town won't stand for it.
"If you want to spread this type of racist, antisemitic hate in our community we're going to hold you accountable," says Slater.
The state has since painted over the vandalism, and the town wants to use the blank canvas to promote unity.
The town is in talks with the state to turn the site of the hate speech vandalism on Croton Damn Road into a mural of acceptance and understanding.
"Our community will stand up against you every single time," says Slater.
A spokesperson for the Westchester District Attorney's Office tells News 12 that prosecutors are reviewing the case.