St. Paul Pride vandal caught on camera, fails at fear

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - St. Paul police are investigating vandalism targeting Pride displays at several homes and businesses in Macalester-Groveland and Highland Park this week.

Pride attacked

Red flag behavior:

Police have taken 15 reports since Monday from places like J&S Coffee where someone tried to break a window where there’s a Pride flag.

Investigators don't know if the crimes at businesses and homes are connected or whether there's one or more vandals. The victims all feel targeted, but they say they won’t be intimidated.

A brand-new Pride flag flew behind Mary Hess Wednesday, bringing brightness to a gloomy day — a metaphor, perhaps, about defeating darkness.

"Our other flag was torn down yesterday, cut apart into shreds, the pole was bent and broken in multiple places and left on our front lawn," Hess said.

Caught on camera

Shadowy figure:

The vandal showed up in surveillance videos from the home at 1:39 a.m. on Tuesday, a shadowy figure spending two minutes attacking a flag representing love and the LGBTQ+ community.

"That's not somebody, you know, a kid goofing off," Hess said. "That is somebody who's really trying to intimidate us. And it's hard not to feel intimidated, you know? Except that I won't, and our neighborhood won't."

"It was so surprising," said Kristen Ostendorf. "I thought, who can break this aluminum pole? They must have meant it. They must've really been upset."

‘Childish behavior’

Adult destruction:

Ostendorf woke up Tuesday to similar damage — her flagpole broken into four pieces, the flag ripped in three.

"I think it's childish," she said. "And I worry about a society where those are the answers. That's two-year-old behavior."

Several neighbors had flags and signs supporting the LGBTQ community torn up.

The vandal also hit a Half Price Books store with a window display featuring Pride-related books.

Police have surveillance videos of them and nearby businesses.

The bookstore is still boarded up, but most of the flags and signs are back — some of them with new defense systems like dog poop surrounding the sign.