Leah Grossman was stunned to find what appeared to be a swastika drawn on groceries left outside of her California home, but was even more shocked to see who drew the symbol: her neighbor, a former pastor.
A Jewish woman was stunned to find what appeared to be a swastika drawn on her groceries left outside of her California home, but was even more shocked to see who drew the symbol: a former pastor who lives in her community.
Leah Grossman spotted what looks like a swastika scrawled on a box of seltzer as she began transporting the groceries into her home.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Grossman tells Inside Edition.
When Grossman checked her security camera footage, she watched as her neighbor drew the symbol, appeared to hide by the door and waited for her to discover it. After Grossman opened her door, the man ducks away, the footage showed.
She confronted her neighbor at 10 p.m. and he claimed he had nothing to do with the swastika.
She says she was targeted because she flew an Israeli flag from her balcony following the terror attack on Israel.
“He called me a fascist for hanging my flag out there,” Grossman says.
The man was a pastor at Los Angeles’ United Methodist Church until last year. Grossman says she is stunned a retired pastor would do such a thing.
“This person presents to the world, you know, as a pillar of society,” Grossman says.
When Inside Edition attempted to speak with the former pastor, he denied he drew a swastika. But then he offered was Grossman sees as a far-fetched explanation, claiming he wanted to teach her the history of the swastika before it became a symbol of Hitler and the Nazis
“My intention was to explain what it was but she didn’t give me the opportunity,” he tells Inside Edition.
Grossman says there is no question in her mind that the symbol was a swastika.
“When I asked directly, ‘What is this,’ not only did he say, ‘I don’t know,’ but then he said he was just walking by as though he hadn’t even drawn anything."
The single mom says she lives in fear of the retired pastor.
“Trying to make up this story about teaching me peace, it’s just an insult to injury,” Grossman says.
