May 4, 2017 By Jason Cohen
The vandal who has been scrawling homophobic graffiti throughout Astoria this year struck again Tuesday night.
The latest incident, scrawled in black paint over garage doors on 23rd Street (between 28th and 29th Avenues), read: “Obama Faggot” and “Obama Dyke.”
This is the third time these garage doors have been hit this year, according to a neighbor. Each time the doors get repainted but the vandal comes back like it’s a game of cat and mouse.
The vandal sprayed “Obama f—-t” on the outside of Pistilli Towers at 31-19 Newtown Ave. on March 20, which is the office of State Sen. Michael Gianaris and Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas.
Deputy Inspector Peter Fortune, the commanding officer of the 114th Precinct, said the homophobic graffiti pattern is being investigated by Hate Crimes Task Force.
According to Fortune, there have been 12 incidents, several on those garage doors.
Video was released in March of the suspect and the precinct is looking for help from the community in helping identify him.
6 Comments
Let’s get real. It isn’t “homophobic” but Demo-phobic. I have the deepest respect for Senator Gianaris who helped me when no one else would, but you can’t just go after the guy who insults your party. They need to crack down on this across the board. Astoria looks like a dogs dinner with all of this crap.
This was all over the news this morning with much clearer surveillance video of this person. I hope someone recognizes him and turns him in. IMO, he has mental issues. It is like he is playing a “cat and mouse” game with the police and might be enjoying the attention/chase. Astoria has a huge gay population and seems like it grows every year. I see men holding hands and showing affection all over this neighborhood. We will not tolerate these acts of hate.
It seems like a strange message and stranger that it’s on these specific doors multiple times.
How many times do you guys have to keep following this story? It’s boring and lame. Okay, there is a .00000001% of Astoria’s population that runs around spraying those words. Who cares? Get on with the bigger news. And no, I don’t want to hear about your damn anti-Trump parades, either. Something constructive that affects us. How does reddit have better content than you guys?
Dear Editors:
Again, maybe just stating the information without displaying a picture in this instance, would above serving as encouragement for more such behavior. That’s why one strategy is to paint over graffiti immediately – the less visible it is, the less in encourages more. Also, as a reader, I really don’t need to, and don’t want to see that picture. Thanks.
“above” = avoid