The Salt Lake City Police Department is asking for help in identifying the person or persons responsible for burning multiple Pride flags this holiday weekend.
Officers responded to a home near the center of town after the owner reported that his Gay Pride flag had been cut up and burned.
Police later learned that at least four other Pride flags in the area were vandalized in a series of incidents that likely occurred between 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. Monday, police said.
Doorbell footage captured by a resident showed a man wearing a mask, hoodie and body armor approaching a home and cutting down a flag.
In a statement on social media, police called on anyone living in the area to check their home surveillance cameras or doorbell to see if a culprit had been caught on video.
The Salt Lake City Police Department is asking for help in identifying the person or persons responsible for burning multiple Pride flags this holiday weekend. In the photo, a tattered flag shared by the police department.
Doorbell footage captured by residents showed a man wearing a mask, hoodie and bulletproof vest approaching a home and cutting down a flag.
Another resident who lives in the 800 block of S Washington St., where the incidents occurred told ABC4: ‘If it had just been someone passing by, it would be less scary.’
“He was someone who would dress for any outcome and that person with all that bad intent was on my front porch,” Joseph Lebya said.
“They didn’t want it shown to them, so I think it’s kind of telling,” another resident, Kellie Call, told the station, referring to the fact that the suspect was wearing a mask.
“My heart aches because once again this community has always felt very safe here to me, it didn’t feel safe this morning,” Call said.
“It doesn’t just affect the person that this has been done to, it affects the entire community,” said Sgt. Mark Wian of the Salt Lake City Police Department.
Other neighborhood residents reported that people had visited in support during the day to provide them with replacement Pride flags.
Pictured is one of the damaged flags outside a house near downtown Salt Lake City.
The remains of a burned Pride flag are seen on the ground after they were vandalized in Salt Lake City in the early hours of Monday morning.
The resident whose doorbell camera caught the vandal wrote on Facebook Monday night that despite the hateful incident, he had ended the day on a high.
“I started today with a very heavy heart and tears in my eyes when I found out that my neighborhood and home were the subject of a hate attack this morning,” she wrote.
‘Whoever did this is a coward and I’m sad for them. Within 12 hours of this incident, a new flag with a love note was left by a kind and anonymous person! It’s been a hard day but tonight I’ll sleep well with my new Pride flag flying, plus the remains of the damaged one,’ he added.
In a press release, police said they would investigate the incident as a possible hate crime.
“The Salt Lake City Police Department recognizes our responsibility to investigate hate crimes thoroughly and impartially to hold offenders accountable and ensure justice for survivors,” the statement read.
‘The Salt Lake City Police Department educates its officers and works with our community to recognize and condemn hate crimes and works to prevent them from happening in the future.
Community members showed their solidarity by visiting the neighborhood with replacement pride flags
The resident whose doorbell camera caught the vandal wrote on Facebook Monday night that despite the hateful incident, he had ended the day on a high.
“The effects of a hate crime can be devastating and long lasting for both the individual victim and the community at large.”
Under Utah law, an incident is a hate crime if a victim is targeted for being a member of a protected class because of ancestry, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, or sexual orientation.
This latest incident comes after pride flags were stolen across the Salt Lake Valley last month, in Salt Lake City, South Jordan, Millcreek and Holladay. The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
On June 8, police in South Jordan in Salt Lake County shared video of a man wearing a mask approaching a home equipped with a Ring doorbell and tearing down a Pride flag before running off with it.
