Hate crime investigators are looking for suspects in two separate incidents in Queens and Manhattan involving stolen or torn down Pride flags — more troubling acts of vandalism during Pride Month.
Around 1 p.m. Thursday, officers responded to a call reporting a second act of vandalism in the span of a week at the park where the Stonewall National Monument is located in the West Village. Police said that several Pride flags that had been displayed were broken and torn down across the street from the Stonewall Inn — a place many consider to be the birthplace of the gay rights movement.
It came after neighbors in the area discovered about 60 Pride flags torn down from the fence, broken apart and thrown on the sidewalk Saturday morning.
Police released images of alleged suspects in the prior incident earlier in the week. The group of men was seen in the area after the flags had been vandalized around 3 a.m. Saturday. They were last seen heading east on Waverly Place.
Investigators are not considering the two incidents at the LGBTQ+ memorial to be connected.
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There is an investigation into two teenage suspects that were seen on camera ripping down and stealing a Pride flag in Queens, damaging the fixture attached to the front of the Fresh Meadows home where it had been hung. Police said the incident occurred Tuesday near 190th Street and 75th Avenue.
Richard Marzullo, the homeowner, said he can't believe the flag is gone, saying it's the first time vandals have actually taken the whole thing. He shared video from 2022 in which someone wearing all black took down the flag and threw it to the ground, as well as a group in 2021 running away after vandalism.
"A lesson needs to be learned, this is likely to keep happening if nothing else happens," said Marzullo.
The search for the suspects in that incident is ongoing, and police said both are facing hate crime charges.
The NYPD said that the Hate Crime Task Force is now investigating each of the incidents. it also comes as the Human Rights Campaign, the largest advocacy organization of its kind across the nation, declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. It's the first time in its more than 40-year history that the group has made such a declaration, pointing out the rise of legislation in statehouses around the country directed at regulating the lives of queer people.
