‘I was disgusted with what I was reading,’ says Sgt. Justine Thom, a spokesperson for the New Westminster police.
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Police in New Westminster are searching for suspects responsible for two separate incidents of racist graffiti.
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The first incident —racist messages scratched on a vehicle— is believed to have occurred overnight on June 5. Police say the vehicle was parked in the area of South Dyke Road of the Queensborough neighbourhood.
The second incident happened Friday at around midnight. A resident called police to say that he was witnessing two suspects spray painting racist graffiti on buildings in the 400-block of East Columbia Street.
When authorities arrived no one matching the suspect description could be located. It was at that time that police found five vehicles had also been spray painted with graffiti. Police have not disclosed the content of the racist messages.
“When I saw this graffiti I was disgusted with what I was reading,” said Sgt. Justine Thom, a spokesperson for New Westminster police, in a statement Thursday.
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“Racist incidents are taken seriously by the New Westminster Police Department. This investigation is ongoing and we’re asking anyone with information who has not yet spoken to officers to call us.”
The New Westminster Police Department has an officer seconded to the Provincial Hate Crime Unit, and these incidents have been shared with this unit, Thom said.
The suspects in the June 17 incident are described by police as Caucasian males, between 20 and 30 years old, each about 5’7″ tall.
One of the suspects was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, the other was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt.