Pittsburgh man arrested in connection with ethnic intimidation incidents on North Side

Pittsburgh police have arrested a Perry North man in connection with several ethnic intimidation incidents reported in April in the city’s Mexican War Streets neighborhood.

Mario J. Ashkar, 36, was charged with ethnic intimidation, criminal mischief, theft by unlawful taking and disorderly conduct, according to court documents.

An unnamed victim reported four separate incidents that occurred at or near her home in the Mexican War Streets, police said.

On April 19, just before 10:30 a.m., a suspect wearing a white sweatshirt, beard and glasses walked by the house, ripped an Israeli flag from the property and threw it in the garbage, public safety officials said.

Two days later, a suspect pasted antisemitic, pro-Palestine pictures and propaganda all over the front door glass windows around 4 a.m. The suspect then spray painted the message “For Blood and Soil” — a nationalist slogan used in Nazi Germany — on the entire sidewalk in front of the house. The suspect was dressed in all black and wearing a mask during the most recent incident.

City police characterized Ashkar as “one of the suspects” involved in the incidents.

Earlier in the month, the same victim received antisemitic and pro-Palestinian literature, photos and a handwritten note in her mailbox. She also had an Israeli flag stolen from her property.

On another occasion, a different Israeli flag was stomped on and defaced with the message “We Demand Blood.” Officials said the flag was later found in a nearby alley.