Vandals scrawl graffiti on church and synagogue in Manhattan

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Detectives are searching for the vandals who scrawled messages of hate on two separate places of worship in Manhattan.

The disturbing graffiti was discovered Friday on a synagogue on the Lower East Side, and on a church on the Upper West Side.

"When we came over here there was a swastika that had been etched onto the side of the building right underneath the beautiful banner that says 'Hate has no home here', and it was really shocking to see, it was small but it was so disturbing," said church pastor Rev. James Karpen.

The graffiti was found at the Beth Hachasidim DePolen congregation on East Broadway and Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew on West 86th Street.

The NYPD Hate Crimes task force is investigating both incidents, which do not appear to be related.

Referring to the two incidents, Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed in a tweet that "Hate will not be tolerated in New York City."