St. Paul police investigating 16 reports of vandalized LGBTQ pride flags

St. Paul police investigating 16 reports of vandalized LGBTQ pride flagsSt. Paul police investigating 16 reports of vandalized LGBTQ pride flags

Kelly Sofio spent part of her Thursday afternoon ironing her new pride flag after a vandal came to her home overnight and destroyed the one flying over her front porch.  

“So, it was early Tuesday morning, about 1:05 in the morning, we didn’t hear anything,” Sofio recalls.

Her family’s Ring camera feed shows a masked man, with what appeared to be a knife in his belt, walk onto her front stoop, and “Grabbed the flag, broke the flagpole over his knee and walked away,” Sofio says.

The broken flagpole now sits on her front porch.

Sofio says she found the flag, shredded, down the street.

“I feel bad for this person,” she declares. “Kind of wondering what brought him to this point. Who’s he with? Who does he live with? Somebody’s got to know this guy.”

Sofio isn’t alone.

St. Paul police are investigating 16 reports of damage to rainbow flags in the Highland Park and Macalester-Groveland neighborhoods since Sunday.   “I think that they’re trying to send a message to the community and invoke fear,” says Andi Otto, the director of Twin Cities Pride. “And we’re just not that community.”

In a separate case, authorities are trying to learn who vandalized several windows Monday and Tuesday at a Half-Price Books on Ford Parkway, which sold Pride books and accessories.

St. Paul police say someone also sprayed graffiti on one of the store windows.

A company spokesperson says staffers have turned over surveillance video to investigators.“We’ve battled this stuff before,” Otto says. “I think that given the current climate, they think it’s okay, and it’s not okay.”

The vandalism, just days before the Twin Cities Pride Festival, opening this weekend, an event that typically draws half a million people.

Minneapolis police say they will have an increased presence throughout the city.  

Pride Festival organizers say they’ve hired a private security firm and are working with state and local law enforcement to keep the event safe.

“We are taking every precaution that we can to ensure that someone who wants to target our community doesn’t have that opportunity,” Otto says.

St. Paul police are asking anyone with surveillance video that may have captured images of the vandalism suspect to come forward.

For her part, Sofio says that pride flags are already popping up in her neighborhood as a show of support.  “I think this person unfortunately lives in a bubble,” she notes. “Just hasn’t had enough life experience to know what a terrible thing they’ve done.”

Below is a map of where damaged pride flags were reported:

Residents in the area are being urged to check their surveillance footage and contact police if they see anything suspicious. You can contact the Western District at 651-266-5512 or email the lead investigator, Sgt. Chuck Graupman, at Charles.graupman@ci.stpaul.mn.us.

The post St. Paul police investigating 16 reports of vandalized LGBTQ pride flags first appeared on KSTP.com 5 Eyewitness News.