Dozens of headstones vandalized at Brooklyn cemetery
EAST FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (WABC) -- The NYPD is searching for suspects after dozens of headstones and monuments were vandalized at a Brooklyn cemetery.
The incident happened at the Holy Cross Cemetery on Tilden Avenue in East Flatbush last Friday.
Authorities say 63 grave markers were damaged, as was a 6-foot-tall shrine statue of St. Joseph.
A field manager discovered the knocked over and broken structures at 8:30 a.m.
Officials say 13 of the damaged monuments had statues mounted on top, and it was those statues that sustained the most damage.
The Holy Cross staff is working to reset all of the memorials, but the shrine statue, owned by the cemetery, was broken into several pieces and cannot be reset.
The entire cemetery is surrounded by a tall iron gate, meaning the perpetrator or perpetrators had to scale it to inflict the damage.
"These are the sacred burial places, the sacred sites of people who passed away," Diocese of Brooklyn Press Secretary Carolyn Erstad said. "Families come here to visit their loved ones. They have deep spiritual meaning, religious meaning, and any time someone comes in and desecrates a sacred place that means a lot of a family, it's very disturbing."
The incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
Anyone with information is urged to come forward.
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