Palm Coast family upset after child comes home with swastika drawn on hand

PALM COAST, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A Palm Coast school is investigating after two children got home with swastikas drawn on them.

“It was just, it was hard to see,” said Mercedez Owens. “It was hard.” 

Owens took a picture of the swastika across her son’s hand. She says the 5-year-old showed it to his family when he got off the bus Thursday afternoon.

“He didn't really know what was on his hand,” said Letty Comin, the boy’s grandmother. “He thought it was something that a friend had drawn, as a friend.”

The family jumped into action, notifying the Imagine School at Town Center, where the kindergarten student attends, and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.

School officials say another young student was also marked with a swastika on the bus that day. We’re told a middle school student may be to blame.

“My reaction was such that he thought he was in trouble, because I gasped when I saw it,” Comin explained. “And I said, ‘Who did this to you?’ He didn't know. He just said it was an older child.”

Deputies say no crime was committed and when they questioned the older student, he didn’t know what the symbol meant.

The school says an internal investigation is underway and sent a letter home to parents Friday. It said in part, “This incident is not consistent with our expectations of respect, tolerance, and civility toward all students. We take this seriously."

“I hope that the school does realize that this is serious. We can't just brush it under the rug,” Owens said.

The family wants someone held accountable. They also want to protect the little boy.

“He does not know black from white and he loves everybody.  And he's got an amazing heart and I don't want that it any way shape or form wounded from these actions,” Comin said.

School officials say the older boy may be disciplined once their investigation is finished.