Police investigating vandalism reports by Worcester city councilors

WORCESTER - Police are investigating after District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj reported someone vandalized political signs on her lawn and threw a baseball at her home Friday evening.

“It’s just really unsettling,” Haxhiaj told the Telegram & Gazette Sunday, adding that she has been fearful something like this could happen for months.

“This is something I have mentioned, in the last three to four months, how unsafe I have felt as a result of toxic harassment,” she said. “How toxic and hateful the environment feels right now is deeply concerning.”

Police are also investigating Councilor-at-Large Donna Colorio's claim that her car was egged and one of her signs near Newton Square was vandalized sometime late last week.

Haxhiaj, the city’s first Albanian-born and Muslim councilor, has been outspoken in her progressive politics. In addition to false rumors about a campaign donor being tied to a police killer, she has faced online attacks including after she posted about Friday’s incident.

In a post to social media Friday night, Haxhiaj shared a photograph of multiple lawn signs knocked over and said someone tried to hit her house violently with a baseball.

“This political targeting is ugly,” wrote Haxhiaj. “The harassment I’ve been facing for over 4 years now is a reminder of what some of us are facing for our values, ideas & work.”

Haxhiaj told the T&G Sunday that, after returning home around 6:30 p.m. Friday, she and her partner were cooking dinner when they heard and felt vibrations as if something had struck her porch.

She said upon going outside, her partner did not see anything and could not find anyone in the area.

A collection of lawn signs for her and other progressive campaigns had been vandalized, she said, while she found a baseball near her home she believes someone tried to throw at her window.

Haxhiaj said she believes the ball hit a beam, causing the vibration she felt, and preventing it from reaching the window.

“It was hard enough to feel - like somebody threw a big rock,” she said.

Haxhiaj thanked City Manager Eric D. Batista and Interim Police Chief Paul Saucier, both of whom she said spoke to Friday night, and said detectives are investigating.

“Hopefully some fingerprints will come out of the baseball,” she said.

In a Saturday morning post on her political Facebook account, Colorio shared a photo of her car's windshield where the contents of cracked eggs were strewn across the windshield. In addition, Colorio wrote that one of her campaign signs was defaced with black paint that read "F.... racist."

Colorio said a supporter in the Newton Square neighborhood told her campaign about her sign being vandalized Wednesday morning.

"It was just such a sad display of hatred. It just took me back," Colorio said.

When she woke up Saturday morning, Colorio said she found her car had been "violently egged" with dozens of eggs thrown on the windshield and a side of the car. Colorio said it took several attempts to fully clean the car.

"This is really targeted to me as a politician. I mean, my car in front of my house with my sticker with the signs in the backseat," Colorio said. "There was no question that this was my car."

While she had not reported previous incidents of stolen or vandalized signs, Colorio said the two incidents happening so close together felt "too close for comfort."

Haxhiaj has been outspoken in her progressive politics as an activist and then as District 5 Councilor. She spoke to the T&G Thursday regarding systemic concerns about the city’s oversight of the police department.

Haxhiaj said Sunday that while she can't know what specifically triggered Friday’s incident, she has been worried for some time about increasingly volatile rhetoric against her campaign.

She said in addition to false claims that she accepted money from the relative of a "cop killer," her home has been filmed by critics, part of a campaign of intimidation she said no public official should face.

“For me, as a mother, to have conversations with my young children around watching our backs and being careful is just really sad,” she said.

Haxhiaj said the episode is particularly difficult for her given her background of fleeing societal and political upheaval in her native Albania at age 17.

“To encounter these sorts of themes, as a public official, as an immigrant, a former refugee, as a woman, has felt really disheartening,” she said.

Colorio, who is also running for mayor this year, is one of the most conservative members of the City Council. While City Council is officially a nonpartisan position, Colorio is known as a Republican elected official in a largely Democratic city.

Colorio's conservative politics have been subject to political scrutiny in the past including last year's race for the Democratic nomination for the 1st Worcester Senate District where she stood the chance of becoming mayor if incumbent Joseph M. Petty had won the nomination.

While Colorio said lawn signs being taken or vandalized usually happens around this time in election season and some of her signs were burned during one of her School Committee elections, she had never experienced an incident similar to the egging of her car.

Similar incidents have happened to other city councilors and they have received intimidating letters in the mail, Colorio said.

'Running for public office should not include acts like this'

A review of social media posts shows that many in the city’s political community — including her prime opponent, Jose Rivera — decried the incident Haxhiaj reported as unacceptable.

“It is unconscionable that an elected official’s/candidate’s home be targeted with a violent act,” Councilor-at-Large Kate Toomey wrote. “I, along with others, have been recipients of death threats and other acts of violence over the years.

“Running for public office should not include acts like this.”

There were also many posts — often from anonymous users — in which people doubted the vandalism occurred, as well as several anti-immigrant, anti-Semetic posts.

Haxhiaj said such "hurtful" posts reflect the toxic environment of politics nationally and locally, especially when it comes to the marginalized communities she represents.

“I think we’ve seen a very toxic environment in this campaign, particularly in District 5,” she said. “The only reason I decided to share this publicly is it’s important for people to understand that when acts of violence happen, we need to shine sunlight on them.”

Colorio said it feels a little early in the election season to see more brazen acts against political candidates, as the race usually intensifies a month before Election Day.

Stressing civility

Haxhiaj said it is difficult to face hate online and now at her doorstep, saying that while she is outspoken, she stresses civility.

“I try really hard, even when I disagree with people, to not hurt them personally,” she said. “I speak my truth and I do it with integrity and honesty, and it sounds like that hits a chord with people that don’t agree with me.”

Haxhiaj said she will not be intimidated and was back knocking on doors Sunday.

“I’m not deterred,” she said. “If anything, this just convinced me (further) that we need to elect people that share our values.”

Colorio said she could not understand what has caused these acts.

"I don't understand how people can't just agree to disagree. I have a strong political belief and I'm very confident in how I represent the people of Worcester, and I'll say what I think," Colorio said. "Of course there's going to be people that disagree, as well as people who disagree with Etel, but people have to be civil. They can vote us out."

While Colorio said the incident has not affected her psyche, she said she will install cameras in her house.

Police Lt. Sean Murtha confirmed Monday that official reports were filed for the vandalism incidents both Haxhiaj and Colorio shared on social media and they are under investigation. He provided no further information.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Police investigating vandalism at Councilor Haxhiaj’s home