SDSU investigates vandalism, hate crime at Jewish fraternity house
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The San Diego State University Police Department is investigating a recent on-campus incident as vandalism and a hate crime.
Members of Alpha Epsilon Pi, who didn't want to speak on camera, confirm they were targeted.
The president of the fraternity says he and other members are going through a lot right now, still cleaning up and working with police on the investigation.
'The frats do a lot of stuff, so I wasn't too surprised because this isn't the first email that's come out about stuff like this,' SDSU freshman Mackenzie Lancione said.
Lancione is referring to this campus-wide email sent from SDSU's president on Wednesday.
It states campus police are investigating vandalism and hateful antisemitic remarks reported by members of the university's community who identify as Jewish.
Members of Alpha Epsilon Pi told FOX 5/KUSI off-camera it happened late Tuesday night during a brotherhood event.
They say individuals started throwing items at the Alpha Epsilon Pi house, including paint, food and even fireworks.
The exterior of the building still shows signs of the defacement.
In her message to the campus, President Adela de la Torre states in part – 'any form of hate or discrimination has no place at our university, and we stand together in condemning such behavior in the strongest form.'
Fifth-year SDSU student Dylan Farrell says throughout his education he's been aware of issues on campus.
'Racism and like bigotry on campus, as well as a lot of hazing incidents that have caused a lot of school damage and property,' Farrell said.
Farrell says he wants to see the school step in and do more.
'Maybe more enforcement because I don't think they should get rid of the frats all together, but I definitely think they should crunch down a little bit on these incidents,' Farrell said.
Others are glad the school is keeping them informed even when they're not involved.
'At least that it's being brought attention to it, I think is a good start,' Lancione said.
Support services are being offered to any students or staff who need it as the school works to create a safe environment for everyone.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Hamilton Spectator
5 hours ago
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And here's just a sampling of some other disturbing attacks before that — the assassination of a health care executive on the streets of New York City late last year, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in small-town Pennsylvania during his presidential campaign last year, the 2022 attack on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by a believer in right-wing conspiracy theories, and the 2017 shooting by a liberal gunman at a GOP practice for the congressional softball game. 'We've entered into this especially scary time in the country where it feels the sort of norms and rhetoric and rules that would tamp down on violence have been lifted,' said Matt Dallek, a political scientist at Georgetown University who studies extremism. 'A lot of people are receiving signals from the culture.' Politics behind both individual shootings and massacres Politics have also driven large-scale massacres. Gunmen who killed 11 worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, 23 shoppers at a heavily Latino Walmart in El Paso in 2019 and 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store in 2022 each cited the conspiracy theory that a secret cabal of Jews were trying to replace white people with people of color. That has become a staple on parts of the right that support Trump's push to limit immigration. The Anti-Defamation League found that from 2022 through 2024, all of the 61 political killings in the United States were committed by right-wing extremists. That changed on the first day of 2025, when a Texas man flying the flag of the Islamic State group killed 14 people by driving his truck through a crowded New Orleans street before being fatally shot by police. 'You're seeing acts of violence from all different ideologies,' said Jacob Ware, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who researches terrorism. 'It feels more random and chaotic and more frequent.' 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San Francisco Chronicle
5 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Political violence is threaded through recent US history. The motives and justifications vary
The assassination of one Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, and the shooting of another lawmaker and his wife at their homes, is just the latest addition to a long and unsettling roll call of political violence in the United States. The list, in the past two months alone: the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. The firebombing of a Colorado march calling for the release of Israeli hostages, and the firebombing of the official residence of Pennsylvania's governor — on a Jewish holiday while he and his family were inside. And here's just a sampling of some other disturbing attacks before that — the assassination of a health care executive on the streets of New York City late last year, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in small-town Pennsylvania during his presidential campaign last year, the 2022 attack on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by a believer in right-wing conspiracy theories, and the 2017 shooting by a liberal gunman at a GOP practice for the congressional softball game. 'We've entered into this especially scary time in the country where it feels the sort of norms and rhetoric and rules that would tamp down on violence have been lifted,' said Matt Dallek, a political scientist at Georgetown University who studies extremism. 'A lot of people are receiving signals from the culture.' Politics behind both individual shootings and massacres Politics have also driven large-scale massacres. Gunmen who killed 11 worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, 23 shoppers at a heavily Latino Walmart in El Paso in 2019 and 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store in 2022 each cited the conspiracy theory that a secret cabal of Jews were trying to replace white people with people of color. That has become a staple on parts of the right that support Trump's push to limit immigration. The Anti-Defamation League found that from 2022 through 2024, all of the 61 political killings in the United States were committed by right-wing extremists. That changed on the first day of 2025, when a Texas man flying the flag of the Islamic State group killed 14 people by driving his truck through a crowded New Orleans street before being fatally shot by police. 'You're seeing acts of violence from all different ideologies,' said Jacob Ware, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who researches terrorism. 'It feels more random and chaotic and more frequent.' 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Little was known about the man police identified as a suspect in the Minnesota attacks, 57-year-old Vance Boelter. Authorities say they found a list of other apparent targets that included other Democratic officials, abortion clinics and abortion rights advocates, as well as fliers for the day's anti-Trump parades. Conservatives online seized on the fliers — and the fact that Boetler had apparently once been appointed to a state workforce development board by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz — to claim the suspect must be a liberal. 'The far left is murderously violent,' billionaire Elon Musk posted on his social media site, X. It was reminiscent of the fallout from the attack on Paul Pelosi, the former House speaker's then-82-year-old husband, who was seriously injured by a man wielding a hammer. Right-wing figures theorized the assailant was a secret lover rather than what authorities said he was: a believer in pro-Trump conspiracy theories who broke into the Pelosi home echoing Jan. 6 rioters who broke into the Capitol by saying: 'Where is Nancy?!' On Saturday, Nancy Pelosi posted a statement on X decrying the Minnesota attack. 'All of us must remember that it's not only the act of violence, but also the reaction to it, that can normalize it,' she wrote. Trump had mocked the Pelosis after the 2022 attack, but on Saturday he joined in the official bipartisan condemnation of the Minnesota shootings, calling them 'horrific violence.' The president has, however, consistently broken new ground with his bellicose rhetoric towards his political opponents, who he routinely calls 'sick' and 'evil,' and has talked repeatedly about how violence is needed to quell protests. The Minnesota attack occurred after Trump took the extraordinary step of mobilizing the military to try to control protests against his administration's immigration operations in Los Angeles during the past week, when he pledged to 'HIT' disrespectful protesters and warned of a 'migrant invasion' of the city. 'It feels as if the extremists are in the saddle," he said, 'and the extremists are the ones driving our rhetoric and politics.'
Yahoo
a day ago
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Man arrested on suspicion of SDSU burglaries
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A 36-year-old man suspected of burglaries at San Diego State University was arrested Friday. Troy Speaks, who is not a student or affiliated with SDSU, was identified as the suspect, according to the San Diego State University Police Department (UPD). He was arrested on suspicion of commercial burglary and is known to UPD as a repeat offender. 'Speaks was previously arrested by UPD for burglary approximately six months ago and had just been released from custody two days prior to these reported burglaries,' SDSU said in the news release. On Thursday at around 1 p.m., UPD received reports of two separate classroom burglaries after faculty members reported stolen laptop computers from classrooms in the Professional Studies and Fine Arts building and the Storm Hall building. Nationwide 'No Kings' protests set for this weekend, including across San Diego In one of the incidents, a faculty member saw a suspected burglar leaving the area carrying two laptop computers. Then around 2 a.m., a UPD officer found the suspect on SDSU campus property attempting to gain access to a secured building during hours when the campus was closed to the general public, per UPD. Speaks was booked into San Diego County Jail. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact the SDSU Police Department at 619-594-1991 and reference case numbers 25-775 and 25-776. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.