It sure looks like it.

New Haven (WTNH) _ Veterans are outraged that a war memorial in New Haven has been vandalized.

The Vietnam War Memorial at Long Wharf was spray painted with the threatening words “Kill whites MS 13.”

Seeing this just crushed the veterans we spoke to. The names on that wall that are covered in paint, are the names of those who fought and died for this country in the Vietnam War. Tonight, police are investigating whether this is the work of a violent street gang, but the veterans we spoke to, say whoever they are, aren’t as tough as they might think.

“This irks me. This hurts me deep to my heart,” Vietnam Veteran Emery Linton Sr. said…

Whoever did it sprayed “MS-13” all over the place. According to law enforcement, MS 13 is a violent international gang with roots in El Salvador. Members are involved in drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and even human trafficking and their presence is growing in the U-S. Just this summer, police in the Boston area did a big round-up of MS 13 gang members.

That said, New Haven police say there hasn’t been any documented MS-13 activity so far in the city. But they are investigating this incident.

There’s video at the link. Michelle has kept up with MS-13’s spread across the US over the past few years. This kind of thing is certainly not outside their MO, and they have been documented as far north as Newark, NJ, which is only a couple hours drive from New Haven. “Human trafficking” refers to sneaking people into and out of the US, and MS-13’s activities in that area may include working with al Qaeda.

Update: Lots of folks are saying this is a hoax, and that’s obviously a possibility (hence the question mark on the title of this post). Troll through this Flickr gallery of gang graffiti or Google it and you’ll see that MS-13’s stuff tends to be more ornate than this vandalism is. I’m not sure I see the point of running a false flag vandalism (and if it’s that and it’s similar to the noose hangings we’ve seen at college campuses lately, well, then some Vietnam vet vandalized it? That strikes me as unlikely. It also strikes me as unlikely that some lefty who dislikes veterans would vandalize it in a way that draws attention to a real threat.). But this being the work of MS-13 wanna be’s makes a lot of sense to me. It’s also possible, I suppose, that someone who dislikes MS-13 would do this to make them look bad. Hopefully the police will get to the bottom of it.