After a recent hate crime in Pullman involving gay slurs written on a WSU student’s vehicle, a married couple decided to create a “Hate Crime Reward Fund” to investigate and stop future incidents.

The case involved John Kraus, who found his car with gay slurs written in red paint the morning of Nov. 10. After encouragement from his roommates, Kraus posted photos of the incident on Facebook which soon elicited thousands of likes, shares and comments.

After Kraus returned from classes, he found about 20 people cleaning his car before being waxed by WSU police. The case soon reached other media outlets and caught the attention of Pullman residents Terry and Ruth Day.

“Ruth and I were appalled when we read about the anti-gay hate crime,” Terry Day said. “We deplore hate crime against any minority; ethnic, religious, gender, sexual orientation, or of any other nature.”

According to a Pullman news release, Pullman residents Terry and Ruth Day created the fund with $500 before contacting others, such as former mayor Karen Kiessling and Mayor Glenn Johnson, who each contributed $500.

Johnson said he made a similar fund a few years ago when someone damaged park restrooms and was able to solve the crime with help from the fund.

He said the fund’s use would be determined by the Pullman Police who would decide what information is instrumental in solving the cases.

Police have classified the vandalism as malicious harassment, a Class C felony, and officers notified the FBI of the hate crime.

Pullman Police Cmdr. Chris Tennant said that although the police have no leads in this particular incident, he hopes the fund will help bring more information forward as their investigation continues.

Terry Day hopes this fund will bring the community together to solve not only this incident but future incidents, as well.

“We hope the community, including the campus community, will join us in expressing disgust at and intolerance of hate crime by contributing to this fund,” he said. “A significant number of small contributions would be both welcome and useful.”

Those who would like to donate may send a check or money order payable to the City of Pullman and designate “hate crime reward fund.”