EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. — A Ray County man says that he is the victim of a hate crime after someone spray-painted a religious slur on the side of his home.
Bill Wesenberg says that someone painted “Get out, Jew Boy” on the side of his Excelsior Estates home just north of Excelsior Springs. He says he discovered the graffiti first thing this morning.
“When I came out I saw it and was shocked,” said Wesenberg, a Messianic Jew who has called the quiet, unincorporated community home for 20 years. He says that he had never heard of anyone in the community having a problem with his religion.
Wesenberg says that he painted over the graffiti to keep his home from being a spectacle, and to keep it from his bed-ridden wife, who he says is losing her battle with breast cancer.
“She’s in her final days,” said Wesenberg. “It’s something that’s not needed. Not with everything else that’s going on.”
Wesenberg’s neighbors say that they were shocked and angered by the graffiti.
“He doesn’t get much of a chance to get out and get around because he pretty well takes care of her by himself,” said neighbor Jerry Gartner, who says that he and others in the neighborhood wonder if they will be the next target of hurtful vandals. “I was mad. I mean we’re above that.”
The Ray County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the case. They declined to comment on the story to FOX 4.