Nessah Synagogue, Beverly Hills, California Image by Glenn Francis/www.PacificProDigital.com

(JTA) — A synagogue in Beverly Hills was vandalized in what police are investigating as a hate crime.

At approximately 2 a.m. Saturday, according to a statement from the Beverly Hills Police Department, a suspect described as a white male entered the Nessah Synagogue, a Persian Jewish congregation, and vandalized the sanctuary.

Photos of the damage posted to Twitter show a Torah scroll unrolled, crumpled and torn at the seams, as well as broken glass and a torn page from a prayerbook. The police statement said the vandal “moved throughout the sanctuary, heavily ransacking the interior.” The statement said the vandal overturned furniture and caused very limited structural damage.

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No one was in the synagogue at the time. The police statement said the suspect left no “markings or other overt signs of anti-Semitism.”

“This cowardly attack hits at the heart of who we are as a community,” said Beverly Hills Mayor John Mirisch, according to the police statement. “It is not just an attack on the Jewish community of Beverly Hills; it’s an attack on all of us.”

The vandalism comes days after four people died in a shooting attack on Tuesday centered on a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey.

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