Large cross left on family's front lawn in Bergenfield

Lucy Yang Image
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Large cross found on family's front yard
Lucy Yang reports from Bergenfield.

BERGENFIELD, New Jersey (WABC) -- A large cross was found in the front yard of a family's home in Bergenfield, New Jersey.

They say while the cross wasn't set on fire, they're still concerned about who placed it there are why.

Beatrice Friedman is Jewish. Her husband Oscar Pinones is Mexican. Their upstairs tenants are Haitian and Italian. There is a Statue of Liberty out front and a menorah in the window. On Sunday night someone stuck a cross in their front lawn.

"It makes me feel unsafe knowing that someone came on my lawn to prove a point, it's like why would they do that?" Friedman said.

Monday night, Bergenfield police came to the house on Momar Drive to follow up on the incident. Neighbors say Bergenfield is a mixed and peaceful community. It does not suffer from racial problems.

"Lately there have been a lot of threatening bomb calls to schools and things like that, so it's like what's going on?" said Yasmin Hernandez, a neighbor.

The cross was not set on fire and now sits in the backyard. It's not clear who the intended target was but the fact that it was left in the first place leaves a haunting aftertaste.

"I teach my kids respect, that we need to leave a better world for the new generations," Pinones said.

This case has yet not been classified a hate crime.