Overview
- Police published surveillance images showing a person draped in a rainbow flag with a rainbow face covering, sunglasses, and a bicycle believed to be a Citi Bike.
- The Refuge Church of Christ, the City of Oasis Church of Deliverance, and St. Mary's Star of the Sea were defaced within blocks of each other in Far Rockaway.
- Graffiti included phrases such as “Anti-gay cult,” “Welcome cult members,” and “Cult,” and two religious statues at St. Mary’s had their faces painted over.
- The incidents occurred around 1:40 a.m., 1:44 a.m., and about 2:00 a.m. on Oct. 5, which police are treating as linked acts of criminal mischief as a hate crime.
- No arrests have been announced, and investigators are asking anyone with information to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers.