Man arrested after racist graffiti found at San Leandro school district office

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (KGO) -- Police in San Leandro have arrested a man they say spray painted racist graffiti at a school district office. It happened at the district's annex building on Juniper Street.

Officers arrested the man late Wednesday afternoon. They say he grew up in San Leandro and lives in this neighborhood.

An employee with the San Leandro Unified School District went to work at the Juniper annex building Monday to discover a disturbing message -- racial slurs along with the words "white power" spray-painted on the door.

"It's not okay for people to have to go to work and be subjected to what that employee saw that morning," said San Leandro Police Lt. Robert McManus.

McManus says officers honed in on a suspect after checking police logs during the time they think the crime occurred. They discovered that several people had been stopped in the area, and from there, investigators narrowed it down to a 21-year-old man with a criminal record.

"When they found him, less than a half a mile away, he was riding a BMX style bicycle, that appeared to have been freshly spray-painted in red and white colors," said McManus.

Those are the same colors that were used in the graffiti at the district office. Police are not identifying their suspect. His motive is unknown at this point. Neighbors, meanwhile, are relieved to hear of the arrest.

"I've lived here for thirty years and we don't like to hear about that. We have very little crime in our neighborhood," said Mario Toscano, San Leandro Resident

It's unclear what the suspect will be charged with. Police are hoping to convince the DA to charge him with a felony.