More than a dozen tombstones, some dating back to the 1600s, five centuries ago, were vandalized inside a historic cemetery in Brooklyn (NYC)Tuesday morning.
According to security footage, a vandal split the tombstones in half, in an incident that took 20 minutes to destroy almost 500 years of history. What happened means more than damaged property for the congregation of the historic “Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church”, en 3931 Kings Hwy. Founded in 1654, it is one of the oldest churches in North America.
“Is history. It’s a great story… so go in and smash and smash tombs. It’s really a shame that someone would do this,” said Minister De Lafayette Awkward. “It hurts us a lot because these headstones have been here for a long time and for those family members who are still alive, descendants, it’s going to be heartbreaking,” he said.
At least 17 tombstones were destroyed in total. Some of the names have faded, so the church will have to go into its vault to determine who is buried under the shattered plots.
Surveillance video obtained by NBC News it shows a person who entered the cemetery around 2 a.m. on Tuesday and goes into a rage. She can be seen kicking tombstones, picking up one of hers and carrying it away to smash it on the catwalk. The individual was also seen trying to lift a grave cover.
“I know that if my family were (buried) here, I would be very hurt by what I am seeing,” he said. Although disconsolate, the minister does not have a message of hate for the person who destroyed that oasis of peace in Brooklyn, but one of forgiveness.
“We forgive him, we are still going to move on. We are a church of forgiveness. We are a church of Jesus Christ, so we forgive,” he said. “It hurts us, but we forgive them and want to continue with the ministry.”
The NYPD is investigating and searching for the suspect., and the church is hopeful that these pieces of history can be restored. Detectives said that still no indication of a motive, just the total destruction of a New York City landmark.
No arrests have been made. Anyone with information should call. at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) and in Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). also through the page crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by text message to 274637 (CRIMES), followed by TIP577. All communications are strictly confidential.
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