Woman Charged in Anti-Ukraine Synagogue Attack to Undergo Psych Eval
‘FOMENT A WAR’
A Michigan woman facing charges in connection with antisemitic and anti-Ukraine messaging that was smeared on a local synagogue last month was ordered by a judge Friday to undergo a competency and criminal responsibility evaluation. On the wall of the Woodward Avenue Shul, Randi Lucille Nord, 35, allegedly spray painted a Nazi symbol and “AZOV,” the name of a Ukrainian militia some have associated with neo-Nazism. She admitted to police that she attempted to blame Ukraine for the attack by suggesting it was committed by Azov, Detroit Free Press reported. Detective Dan Pelletier testified that Nord wanted to “commit a slew of hate crimes and blame all of them on Azov battalion” so that “everybody gets pissed that the United States is involved in Ukraine.” “She stated ‘I’m trying to get everybody scared and trying to get everybody hyped up,’” Pelletier said. “Nord said her goal was, ‘pretty much trying to foment a war in a lot of ways.’” Nord is currently jailed in the Oakland County Jail with a felony charge of ethnic intimidation and a misdemeanor charge of malicious destruction.