NYPD Seeks Suspect Who Vandalized Three NYC Churches While Carrying LGBT Pride Flag

November 18, 2025

Authorities in New York City have issued a public appeal for information, asking for help in identifying an individual who vandalized three Queens churches while carrying an LGBT flag, earlier this fall.

Christianity Daily reports that the New York Police Department’s Crime Stoppers division is asking for assistance in finding the suspect responsible for damaging 3 Far Rockaway churches on Oct 5.

According to Crime Stoppers, a masked individual targeted The Refuge Church of Christ, The City of Oasis Church of Deliverance, and St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church.

The attack included spray painting “anti-Christian statements” on the facade of three of the churches and the defacement of “the faces of two religious statues on the church property” at St. Mary’s.

Surveillance footage released by the police shows a person carrying an LGBT pride flag mounted on a pole while wearing a rainbow-colored facemask, black clothing, and sunglasses.

A statement from Crime Stoppers said, “The New York City Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the individual depicted in the attached media who is wanted in connection with multiple acts of criminal mischief as a hate crime that occurred within the confines of the 101 Precinct.” 

The Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, which oversees parishes in both Brooklyn and in Queens, issued a statement saying, “The vandalism and desecration discovered at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Far Rockaway last month was absolutely disgraceful. We continue to pray for the responsible individual, as well as for greater religious tolerance in our city.”

A recent report by the Family Research Council documented 415 acts of hostility against 383 churches in 43 states last year.

Photo: top, Credit: Facebook/NYPD Crime Stoppers