The daughter of a New Jersey State Police sergeant who posted photos of herself on Twitter dressed up like genocidal Nazi leader Adolf Hitler at a popular Orthodox Jewish hangout with the caption "perfect bombing time" will not be prosecuted, state officials said Thursday.
The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office told USA Today that the posts, from the teen and several of her friends, "didn't rise to anything criminal," and did not constitute enough of a credible threat to the Orthodox Jewish community to warrant charges.
Spokesman Al Della Fave emphasized that the teen's connection law enforcement did not grant her special treatment, and that ultimately, "we have been assured by the families and the school that this is something that will be handled."
The sergeant declined to give interview permission for his daughter, noting that she and her friends - all of whom are not being identified because they are under 18 - are "minors."
Several of the posts targeted the Lakewood, NJ, Jewish community, with one post reading, "I really wanna drive around Lakewood and run over every Jew with my car."
The tweets were discovered after Orthodox activists who raise awareness about anti-Semitism on social media retweeted the remarks and photos.
Avi Schnall, New Jersey director of Agudath Israel, stated to the news agency that he supported the decision not to file charges, but added that it is a troubling phenomenon.
"We could comfort ourselves and say that these are just immature teenagers fooling around," Schnall said. "But when Hitler becomes another costume that teenagers dress up in, and bombing a group of Jews becomes humorous, that tells us something is very wrong with our society."