Vandals desecrate graves in Cypress Hills cemetery

Police are looking for a trio of vandals that broke into Cypress Hill Cemetery in Glendale yesterday and damaged more than 40 headstones by knocking them down or spray painting slurs on them.

Many of the headstones belonged to Asian-American individuals and some of the graffiti contained anti Asian-American slurs.

The individuals also entered the memorial Abbey mausoleum and caused damage by breaking marble stones on the front of about 15 vaults.

The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident.

A number of elected officials spoke out against the incident today.

“Queens is strengthened every day by its diversity,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley said. “There is absolutely zero tolerance for acts of hate and the vandalism that occurred in our Jeux Gonflables historic Cypress Hills cemetery. As a community, we are proud of our values and must stand together against this horrendous act and work with law enforcement to hold those responsible accountable.”

“Targeting tombstones with hate speech is truly a despicable act of desecration,” Councilman Peter Koo added. “This has no place in our community.”

The individuals are described as three males, approximately 16-19-years-old, possible white or Hispanic with light complexions

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

Share

1,343 thoughts on “Vandals desecrate graves in Cypress Hills cemetery

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *