District of Columbia police make arrest in connection with swastika graffiti at Union Station

The Washington Metro Police Department says officers have made an arrest in connection with a swastikas having been spray painted this past weekend on columns at Union Station, a major D.C. transportation hub at the base of Capitol Hill. 

The Nazi symbols appeared Friday, one day after International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

Police said an unnamed, A 34-year-old male has been charged with Display of Certain Emblems and Defacing Private/Public Property in connection with the incident and tagging three other nearby buildings. 

Police Chief Robert Contee during a press conference Monday the person arrested is thought to be homeless man with mental health issues.

MPD previously said it was investigating the incident as "potentially being motivated in whole or in part by hate or bias."

An Amtrak spokesperson said following the incident that passenger rail service "strongly condemns this act of hatred and will work with our landlord, USRC  and their lessor to remove these symbols as quickly as possible."

Crews at the station are now in the process of removing the graffiti from the granite pillars. 

In a statement from the D.C. Mayor's office, Mayor Muriel Bowser called the display "both shocking and unsettling."

"This antisemitic and hateful symbol has no place in our city, and we stand united with the members of our Jewish community against anti-Semitism in all its forms," she said.