A Jewish Maryland state legislator said on Thursday that a man yelled "Heil Hitler" at her while she was campaigning, The Associated Press reported.
The legislator, Shelly Hettleman, told the Baltimore Sun that the man stopped his car and screamed the phrase at her Monday morning. Hettleman, a Baltimore County Democrat, said the man also yelled, "You don't represent us" and uttered several expletives.
Hettleman's husband and campaign manager both witnessed the scene. Baltimore County Del. Dana Stein was campaigning nearby and saw someone yelling at Hettleman, though she said she was unable to decipher what was said over the sound of traffic.
Hettleman said she plans to report the incident to county police. Police spokesman Cpl. Shawn Vinson said the incident will be investigated as a bias incident.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a report in February which found that the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States spiked in 2017.
There were 1,986 acts of anti-Semitism in the U.S. last year, according to the report. That is more than double the total from 2015, which was 942. It’s also a 57 percent increase over the 2016 total of 1,267. The audit said that the rise is due in part to an increase in people reporting incidents of anti-Semitism.
In a recent incident, an electronic road sign in central Arizona was hacked to display an anti-Semitic message.
The sign in Pinal County was altered to read “Hail Hitler,” which though spelled incorrectly, is believed to refer to the Nazi salute.