April 26, 2017 By Christian Murray
Homophobic graffiti was sprayed on yet another Astoria building this week in what has become a widespread pattern.
The graffiti, scrawled in black paint over garage doors on 23rd Street (between 28th and 29th Avenues), read: “Obama Faggot” and “Obama Dyke.”
Police officers from the 114th precinct were at the scene yesterday and believe the perpetrator is the same individual who sprayed homophobic graffiti on the walls outside the 31-19 Newtown Avenue political offices of State Sen. Mike Gianaris and Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas on three different occasions in March. The words scrawled outside said “Obama faggot”
DNAinfo was first to report the story.
Deputy Inspector Peter Fortune, the commanding officer of the 114th Precinct, said that the hate crimes task force is working on the case. He said that prior to Tuesday’s vandalism there were eight prior incidents.
He said that the same set of garages were sprayed with homophobic writings a few weeks ago.
The precinct released video footage of the man believed to be the perpetrator of these incidents on March 20.
Fortune said that the precinct still does not have any firm leads on the suspect, although he believes the suspect is from the neighborhood. He said that the precinct is looking for help from the public in identifying the perpetrator.
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16 Comments
This graffiti makes no sense. Now if you go by Obama’s recent gigs speaking for 6 figures or even his non-impact two terms in office, it would be more relevant to write Obama Sellout or Obama Whore.
This could be a false flag agitator. Now watch a street event happen decrying homophobia involving the local electeds.
We need more homo erotic graffiti instead of homophobic.
Hey, folks. Paint over the graffiti. The longer it goes unattended, these people assume they have license to continue. I’ve seen a lot of home owners not bother cleaning it up and that’s the real disgrace. I’m all for ticketing those people and punishing the graffiti people too.
You said you seen “a lot of home owners not bother cleaning it up.” I seen a lot of graffiti lately by the Amtrack underpass that runs through the Ditmars area. The city does a poor job responding and cleaning up these matters. I believe there is a program that funds homeowners to clean up graffiti on private property but some homeowners do not know about this. For some, speaking limited English is also a factor. Graffiti is very hard to remove on your own without hiring help.
WoW only because it is a hate crime that the whole 114 precinct gets involved… how about cleaning up the city and investigating all acts of vandalism. I remember when i lived in Astoria and you would call the 114 for grafiti they would have the attitude not my problem. Here in Vegas, that would never happen in my neighborhood… just saying
How’s that second to last school system in the nation doing there in Vegas?
Carullo- A decent pay check doesn’t happen in Vegas either.
this should be posted so people know what is going on in the neighborhood –
Agreed
Very unfortunate and every lead should be followed. It is worth noting though that there has been a pattern of hoaxes. Like the Israeli American teen calling up hoax bomb threats recently or the Islamic girl making up an assault on the subway. Stories like these go back since the summer paid violent protesters.
Keep writing about it and give this punk person incentive to keep vandalizing
So Astoria Post has decided to give that heinous message even greater dissemination by publishing it online. Think editors, think. The text story would have been sufficient.
(In reference to photo of graffiti)
Hi jen. You sort of make sense. But dont worry, I’ll let you in on a little secret I learned in 3rd grade. It goes like this. “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me”. Hope you feel better. I sure do miss the bake sales we used to have in third grade. ?
The problem is that the photo just encourages more. The words are not targeting me, but for those whom it is directed at, its a threat. What about kids who walk by this on the way to school every day? Some are already under enough pressure…
Clearly this person has mental problems. But i do agree if it was a racial or certain religious slur it would of been not shown and painted over immediately.