Supporters Reach Out to Family After Cross Burning

As police arrested a third Huntington Beach teenager suspected of burning a cross outside the home of David Shostak, the relieved homeowner said Saturday that he is trying to put the hate crime horror behind him, with the help and support of neighbors and strangers alike.

“It’s just been overwhelming,” Shostak said of the cards, flowers and unexpected visits his family has received. “People are reaching out. . . . People we don’t even know are saying they care about us. Everyone is telling us to have hope, which is easy to do when you see this kind of goodwill.”

Shostak, who is Jewish, was sitting in his living room in the 9000 block of Saline Drive in Huntington Beach late Tuesday when he looked out the window and saw flames on the lawn. He said he rushed outside, knocked the 6-foot-tall blazing cross to the ground and doused it with a garden hose.

Police and officials from the county’s Human Relations Commission responded quickly to the crime, one of about 30 anti-Semitic incidents that are reported in Orange County on average each year.

Daniel Carr, 18, was arrested Friday and a 16-year-old Huntington Beach high school student was arrested Thursday, each on suspicion of a hate crime, arson and burning a religious symbol. Carr is being held at Huntington Beach City Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

The third suspect, also 16, was arrested late Friday night and is being held at Orange County Juvenile Hall. The younger boys’ names were not released because of their ages. Lt. Larry Miller said there are no other suspects.

“We believe we have them all in custody now,” Miller said. “Hopefully, we won’t be seeing any more [crimes] like this for a long, long time.”

Shostak said his son, a student at Edison High School, “is familiar” with the suspects, but he declined to elaborate. The burning cross marked the second time his family has been targeted in an anti-Semitic act. Last fall, someone stamped a swastika into his front lawn. Still, Shostak said he wants only to move on.

“There’s really no use in focusing on this and wasting a whole lot of energy trying to figure out the whys and how comes,” he said. “The important thing is that we are safe. I have to take care of my family and we have to put this thing away now.”

From the minute word got out about the crime, Shostak said, he and his wife, Barbara, were targeted again--this time by neighbors and well-wishers from all over the county, people who left flowers on their doorstep and mailed homemade cards filled with inspirational messages. Every resident on Saline Drive, where the Shostaks have lived since 1981, signed a poster board-sized card to show their support. One family from Anaheim, whom the Shostaks have never met, delivered an apple pie.

Shostak admits they were not prepared for the response.

“Something good has come from this, absolutely,” he said. “Humans sometimes don’t understand each other, and that can breed ugliness. But we know we are blessed. There is more good than bad in this fine world.”