What to Know
- A Brooklyn school was defaced with a series of anti-Muslim messages late Sunday, police said
- A bus shelter less than a mile away was similarly tagged, though police are not yet linking those crimes
- Hate crimes surged 64 percent in the city in May over a year earlier
Cops are searching for a man who allegedly tagged a Brooklyn school with anti-Muslim graffiti, in what is being probed as a possible hate crime.
The attack happened Sunday night, though the NYPD did not release details or surveillance images until early Wednesday morning.
According to police, just before 9 p.m. Sunday the man allegedly tagged several doors of P.S. 52 on East 29th Street in the Sheepshead Bay section with multiple hateful messages.
He is described as white, about 60 years-old, standing about 5’10” and 220 pounds, with partially bald white hair and beard. He was last seen wearing a grey T-shirt, dark blue pants, black sneakers and black headphones.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The NYPD did not attribute any other attacks to this suspect, though less than a mile away, on a bus shelter on Nostrand Avenue, more anti-Muslim graffiti using the same language was found Monday morning.
"We cannot and will not tolerate hate of any kind in New York City," City Councilman Chaim Deutsch tweeted, along with photos of the bus shelter graffiti, which he said he reported to police.
Hate crimes are on a dramatic rise in the city, with a 64 percent year-over-year spike in May. The NYPD is taking fresh measures to combat that surge, City Hall sources told News 4 earlier this month.
Local
The vast majority of the increase is in anti-Semitic crimes, though there have been anti-LGBTQ and anti-Muslim incidents as well.
