Inside: Kingston police say swastika graffiti was made by four 12-year-olds.

KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Four 12-year-olds are responsible for recent graffiti in Kingston that included backward swastikas, five-pointed stars and the number 666, city police said Monday.

The police department said its investigation concluded the graffiti, discovered at numerous locations in the city on Sunday, Oct. 21, was “done for shock value rather than hate.”

Still, police said, “we feel it is important to share this information, especially after the horrible and tragic event in Pittsburgh this past weekend” — a reference to 11 Jews being shot dead in a synagogue in that city on Saturday.

“They were not spreading any ideology or belief, nor were they targeting any one individual, group or entity in particular,” Kingston police said in a Facebook post about the four youths. “... This crime ... was not motivated by bias of race, sex, religion or other prejudice.”

Police did not identify the children or say what charges they are facing. The names of juvenile suspects in such cases typically are not made public, and the matters are referred to Family Court.

Police said the children applied the graffiti in the early morning hours of Oct. 21 in places “where it was convenient.” The Kingston Library on Franklin Street in Midtown was among the locations vandalized with the graffiti, as were other buildings and several cars.