Pride flag set on fire: Suspect caught on East Bay couple's home security camera
Police say man who set Pride flag on fire outside gay couple's home could face hate crime charge
A San Leandro couple is in shock after seeing someone set fire to their Pride flag underneath their bedroom window.
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. - An East Bay couple who hung a Pride flag outside their home for the first time, say they were shocked to see someone walk up to their house in San Leandro and set the flag on fire Wednesday morning.
Pride flag up in flames
"Standing right here preparing some food and I looked up and was like, whoa," Daniel Montgomery said.
From his kitchen window, Montgomery said he saw their rainbow flag burnt and in tatters.
Montgomery and his husband Nick Garcia, checked their home security cameras and saw a man approach the flag over their garage door around 6:30 in the morning. In the video you see him setting the flag on fire.
"Even with the sensor lights going off, they didn't have regard for it and still did it. So the mission was clear: to destroy property and make us fearful and be hurtful," Garcia said.
What the video shows
The video shows the man then casually walk back toward Garcia's parked car, pausing to watch the flames.
"Seeing the footage and the flames and the camera as the guy was walking away I was like, he didn't even know that that was going to stop," Montgomery said. "That scared me because it could have caught fire so easily."
The flames eventually went out, leaving burn marks on the house.
Pride flag's purpose
"This is the first year we've ever had a flag out, just as a response to what's happening politically, you know, and we needed people walking by to see us for one, but also let people know we are a safe spot," Garcia said. "And to have someone try to take that away from us was such an act of violence that could have done a lot of damage."
They filed a report with the police.
Lt. Abe Teng, the San Leandro Police Department spokesman, says security-camera footage can be an important factor in solving crimes. Lt. Teng says San Leandro police are working with the community this year to expand the city's network of cameras with a new initiative.
"We had 1,000 Ring cameras that we were giving to residents and business owners in town. And part of that is to increase the camera coverage so that when any crime happens, especially ones like this that target specific communities, it gives us more tools," Lt. Teng said.
Friendly neighbors
Garcia and Montgomery say they take heart from the response by their neighbors to this apparent hate crime.
"All of them were saying, we're going to buy your next flag, and we're going to make sure we put more flags in the neighborhood because there's no room for that here," Garcia said.
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