Las Vegas LGBTQ center vanadalized, police say
Las Vegas police are asking for help identifying a man who vandalized Las Vegas’ LGBTQ center near downtown early Thursday, police said.
Officers responded just before 7 a.m. to a destruction of property call at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada, 401 S. Maryland Parkway. Officers found a “derogatory word” spray-painted on the front door, police said.
The Metropolitan Police Department released two videos Thursday afternoon showing the vandal and a person of interest. The video shows a man spray-painting an LGBTQ slur onto the building’s door.
The vandal is described as a 20- to 25-year-old man who is 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10. He was last seen wearing a black shirt, black pants and dark shoes.
The person of interest is also described as a 20- to 25-year-old man who is 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie, brown pants and a camouflage pattern baseball hat.
On Thursday afternoon, pieces of paper covered both sides of the glass door to mask the graffiti.
The center faced an arson attack this summer, when a man set fire to a palm tree outside the building’s entrance.
Police said security footage from June 27 showed that the man appeared to be trying to access a banner above the center’s entrance, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which started after a June 1969 police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City and led to the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
When the man couldn’t reach the banner, he instead set fire to a tree, police said.
Anyone with information about the Thursday vandalism is asked to call the Metropolitan Police Department at 702-828-4314.
Contact Alexis Egeland at aegeland@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexis_egeland on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Katelyn Newberg contributed to this report.
