Pride flag burnings caught on camera prompts investigation in Sacramento County
By Michelle Bandur
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ANTELOPE, California (KCRA) — Sacramento County sheriff’s detectives are looking into possible hate crimes in Antelope after Pride flags were burned in the area.
Johanna Martinezmoles said someone stole her Pride flag and burned it on June 7.
“My heart sank when I looked up to our flag pole and saw that it was not there,” Martinezmoles said.
She wrote a Martin Luther King, Jr. quote on a piece of paper and taped it underneath where the family used to hang the rainbow flag.
“We have decided to stick to love. Hate is too great a burden to bear,” it reads.
The family found their charred Pride flag on the street last Wednesday evening.
One of their neighbor’s security video recorded the criminals in action.
It shows several young people around the flag, as one person lit it on fire. They spray something on it to make it burn and then run away.
Martinezmoles said this is more than a kid’s prank due to the arson.
“That makes it much more serious and that is also scary,” she said.
She said it sends a hateful message to the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies.
“You ask the question of how far would they be willing to go with that anger, with that hate,” she said.
The next day on June 8, about a mile and a half away, someone burned another family’s Pride flag. There were still burn marks on the street on Tuesday.
The video shows in the top left-hand corner of the screen, someone grabbing the flag and moments later, it lights up out of the range of the camera.
The family put up another Pride flag and four days later on June 12, a group of hooded and masked suspects arrived just before 9 p.m. One jumps the fence and steals the second flag. At least six people gather around and burn it on the street.
They watch the fire for a little while then take off.
“Everyone has the right to believe what they want to believe,” Martinezmoles said. “You don’t get the right to attack those beliefs.”
The families say more Pride flags will be flying again soon.
“No, you are not going to silence us with it,” Martinezmoles said. “We want to continue to be the allies that we are.”
Martinezmoles said this is the second time someone has burned their Pride flag.
They still don’t know who’s responsible for the first burning that happened in March of last year.
The sheriff’s office late Tuesday night said that based on preliminary info, it is believed the flag-burning culprits are juveniles in groups of eight, all riding around in masks. The group has been seen casing neighborhoods, possibly looking for targets.
No one has been specifically identified or arrested yet, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies are still collecting video and looking for any possible witnesses.
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