Paul Nelson is reporting for the Times Union vandals defaced more than 14 buildings and businesses in downtown Schenectady, with swastikas, other hate symbols and vulgar language on June 14. The series of incidents is being investigated as a hate crime, according to a city police spokesman. City police Sgt. Jeff McCutcheon said just before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, a pedestrian walking by St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Lafayette Street saw what looked like two swastikas drawn on the side of the building. That person called 911. Officers confirmed what the passerby reported and subsequently found the same hate-type symbols at other locations around downtown, he said. Police are searching for a possible suspect or suspects. McCutcheon said some of the defaced buildings and businesses included the Salvation Army, Hampton Inn, the Zen Asian Fusion Lounge, and the Worker’s Compensation building. Graffiti was also scrawled under the train bridge on Union Street. He said police discovered pentagrams, an anarchy sign and vulgar language on some buildings as well. In every case, chalk was used. The hate symbols were washed off by city firefighters after police evidence technicians photographed them and collected evidence. The investigation is ongoing. Also on June 14, a 60-year-old white Town of Newburgh man was arrested because of a road rage incident in the City of Newburgh on June 11 in which he allegedly menaced an African-American Newburgh man with a knife while making derogatory ethnic slurs, Mid-Hudson News reported.