- Leah Grossman confronted Mark Nakagawa outside his West Hollywood home
- The retired pastor claimed he was trying to teach him about the history of the symbol.
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A retired California pastor was caught on camera drawing a swastika on his Jewish neighbor’s grocery store.
Leah Grossman confronted her neighbor, Mark Nakagawa, at 10:15 p.m. on December 5, seconds after the doorbell camera caught him doodling on a box of mineral water.
The single mother of two told CBS she was “destroyed” when she saw it was a swastika and asked, “Is it a Nazi symbol?”
Nakagawa initially denied drawing the swastika, but when confronted with video evidence, he claimed that he was trying to teach him about the history of the symbol.
Grossman said it was not his first run-in with Nakagawa and claimed he had previously called her a fascist at a homeowners’ meeting for hanging an Israeli flag on her balcony after the Oct. 7 attacks.
Nakagawa was caught on camera drawing a box of mineral water at the Grossman Mall on December 5.
He initially denied drawing the symbol, but later said he did so to teach him about its history as a Buddhist sign of peace.
Speaking to CBS about the drawing, he said: “I just broke down.” As if I had never shaken like this before. My toes were shaking.
“I get emotional thinking about it because it reminds me of all the people I know, my family, my children.”
The incident was captured on his doorbell camera.
Nakagawa can be seen pausing next to her shopping bags outside her door before leaning over to draw something in black pen on a box of mineral water.
Grossman then walks out the door of his house and calls him and asks, “Is there a problem?”
He replies: ‘What?’ and she asks again ‘Is there a problem?’ to which he said ‘No’.
Then she asked him directly: ‘Is that a Nazi symbol?’
He said “No” and then claimed that he was “just walking around here” and didn’t know what the drawing was.
When Grossman said he saw it and told him about the camera, he still claimed he didn’t know what the drawing was.
Grossman is a single mother of two young children and said she felt intimidated by what she saw as an act of anti-Semitism.
She told CBS: ‘What’s happening in the world has really opened up a crack of anti-Semitism and I think people feel really emboldened to put pressure on Jews. “People just shouldn’t get away with it.”
Grossman said she was “devastated” by the incident, which she called an act of anti-Semitism.
Nakagawa retired from his role as pastor of the United Methodist Church last year.
Grossman claims that Nakagawa had previously called her a fascist at a homeowners’ meeting for hanging an Israeli flag on her balcony following the October 7 attacks.
She also said that Nakagawa had previously called her a “fascist” for hanging an Israeli flag on her balcony.
When Nakagawa was confronted by KCAL news about the incident, he repeatedly insisted that he did not know how Grossman would react to the symbol and later claimed that he was trying to teach him about its history as a sign of peace.
The swastika is known as the Nazi symbol of hate, but it is also an ancient symbol of well-being in Hinduism and of Buddha’s steps in Buddhism.
Nakagawa said: The way I did it, in retrospect, the way I did it was not right. It was bad judgment on my part. I realize that.’
He also claimed that Grossman had called him a fascist at the owners’ meeting.
Nakagawa retired from his work as pastor and senior leader of the United Methodist Church in California last year.
Grossman said he had apologized to her, but she didn’t accept it, telling KTLA: “I know in my heart that it’s completely selfish, it has nothing to do with any kind of contrition for what was done.” For me, what they did to my children.’