Authorities are on the hunt for a vandal wielding an LGBT rainbow flag, targeting churches in New York City and accusing them of being cults.
The suspect, who paired the rainbow flag with a rainbow face covering, is believed to have defaced three different churches in the Queens area on October 5 with what has been described as “anti-Christian” statements.
Video footage shows the suspect first targeting Refuge Church of Christ – an apostolic church – spray painting “anti-gay cult” in the wee hours of the morning.
The suspect then ventured to the nearby church City of Oasis Church of Deliverance – a Pentecostal church – expressing similar sentiments by writing “Anti-gay cult” on the front door. According to New York Daily News, the suspect also vandalized the church with “LGBTQ symbols.”
The suspect, who also worse sunglasses, then targeted the Catholic church St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church with the words “Welcome Cult Members.” According to the outlet, the suspect also “blackened out the face of a statue of the Virgin Mary and wrote ‘Cult’ on the statue’s base” while spray painting another statue as well:
The pastor of St. Mary’s Star of the Sea discovered the vandalism the next morning, according to the Tablet.
A receptionist for St. Mary’s Star of the Sea and St. Gertrude’s, which is nearby and share the same rectory, told the Daily News in early October that both churches had been vandalized, with someone placing plastic bags over the heads of the statues at both churches.
The New York Post reports the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force is investigating these actions as a hate crime.
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