West Bloomfield and Farmington Hills police are investigating a “hate-based” incident against Jewish people

Residents of West Bloomfield Township and Farmington Hills woke up to plastic bags containing vicious anti-Semitic material being thrown on their lawns the night of October 4-5.

“The timing of this heinous activity reinforces the chilling effect it has on our community,” said Farmington Hills Police Chief Jeff King. “This type of hateful activity will not be tolerated in Farmington Hills and our office will use all available resources to prevent, investigate and prosecute those responsible for this incident.”

Farmington Hills police responded to the area of 14 Mile and Farmington, where neighbors found bags containing anti-Semitic fliers and potential rat poison on their properties.

In West Bloomfield Township, more than 100 homes found the same thing.

The pellets in the bags are believed to be rat poison, but there are no laboratory results yet. (Photo by Coulter Mitchell)

Police initially responded to the 4800 block of Pelican Way, where residents reported finding a Ziploc bag full of fliers containing anti-Jewish rhetoric in their driveways.

The initial investigation found that over 100 households in the neighborhood had similar materials dumped on their driveways overnight. An area resident used a surveillance camera to capture footage of an unknown dark pickup truck driving in the neighborhood at approximately 11:45 p.m. the night before, Friday, October 4, 2024. However, it is currently unclear whether the truck is related to this incident.

The West Bloomfield Police Department strongly condemns hatred of any kind and is actively investigating this case as a case of ethnic intimidation, a police statement said.