WATERTOWN, Conn. — The Watertown Police Department has launched an investigation after they said someone stole political signs and a pride flag from a couple’s home, hours after the couple received a hateful letter in the mail.
“I open the letter, and it was full of hateful, racist, sexist, misogynistic homophobic statements, and it was pretty concerning,” said Chris Cole, who lives in the Watertown home that he said was targeted.
Cole said he received the letter Friday afternoon and reported it to police. Later that night, around 10:30 p.m., he said they heard a cracking sound at their house, and didn’t think much of it. The next morning, his husband noticed that the pride flag in front of their home and four political campaign signs were missing.
“So, that then became scary and more concerning and certainly felt intimidating,” Cole said.
Cole and his husband reviewed their Ring camera footage, which seemed to have catch a male suspect wearing a dark hoodie and a mask ripping the flag from the home. Cole said the suspect can be heard talking to other people as he ran away.
“A very upsetting incident, particularly for those residents but, you know, as a community, we’re very disappointed that this happened,” said Chief Joshua Bernegger with the Watertown Police Department. “Because as a community, we’re tolerant, respectful of all of our residents, regardless of their viewpoint. And certainly, you know, the First Amendment is an important right to all Americans.”
Bernegger said the two incidents are likely related, and police are now asking for the public’s help to identify the suspect. The department is investigating the acts as politically motivated harassment and theft. However, as of now, the acts do not classify as a hate crime.
“At this point, the motivation appears to be political and not based on a protected class of individuals. I understand that pulling a pride flag down has the appearance of hateful undertones, but we don’t have enough evidence in the case right now to classify this as a hate crime under Connecticut law. That doesn’t mean as the investigation continues that we may uncover a different motivation,” Bernegger said.
As police continue to work on leads, Cole hopes the person involved is held accountable.
“What I will say is, it was a crime. And it was unkind, and it was intimidating and it was meant to scare someone, and that’s not acceptable, however you classify it,” Cole said.
After the signs and the flag were stolen, Cole put up more pride flags and political signs at their house. A nearby neighbor also put up a pride flag in solidarity.
FOX61 was there as a stranger stopped by the home with baked goods to show support for the Watertown couple.
“And that’s been heartening. That, you know, we don’t all need to think alike. I don’t want to live in a place where we all think alike. But we all need to respect each other,” Cole said. “Their intention is to silence us. Their intention is to intimidate us, and I’m not going to be silenced or intimidated.”
Watertown police are asking anyone with information about the incident, or with camera surveillance of person(s) in the area of Scott Avenue on Sept. 6 around 10-11 p.m., to notify the WPD at 860-945-5200 or submit information to tips@watertownctpd.org. They said information can also be reported anonymously to CrimeStoppers at 860-945-9940 for a cash reward.
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Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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