A smashed window at a Tucson synagogue Temple Emanu-El. Photo: Screenshot

Police in Tucson, Arizona, have arrested a 37-year-old man in connection with the vandalism of a synagogue in the city that occurred last weekend.

Dustin Wilkerson was arrested on Wednesday for the attack on the Kol Ami Synagogue, formerly Temple Emanu-El, in midtown Tucson.

Multiple windows at the synagogue were smashed during the attack, leaving splinters of glass around the premises.

Wilkerson was taken into custody after police reviewed CCTV footage around the synagogue.

“That anyone would act violently towards a religious institution that’s upsetting, but beyond that, just a little confused,” Rabbi Thomas Louchheim told local broadcaster News 4.

Local politicians condemned the attack.

“This behavior is totally unacceptable, it does not reflect who we are as Tucsonans. It does not reflect the spirit of Tucson and the ethics of Tucson,” Councilman Steve Kozachik told News 4.

Kozachik added that “if these folks have any kind of sense of dignity and self respect, they ought to step up to the plate, go back to the Temple of Emanu-El and offer to pay for the replacement of the glass.”

The vandalism of the synagogue took place in the same week that a group of Muslim worshippers were set upon by thugs in the car park of the Islamic Center of Tucson. As they arrived for morning prayers, a group of men and women who had been loitering in two parked cars confronted the worshipers and began throwing punches.

Tucson police are also investigating the mosque incident, but no evidence has emerged to suggest a link with the synagogue outrage.