NYPD probes if vandalism of Brooklyn Museum’s Jewish director’s home tied to similar acts as footage of suspects released
Investigators are looking to see if several disturbing acts of vandalism in New York City, including at the home of the Brooklyn Museum’s Jewish director, are connected — as police released footage of some of the suspects.
Five hateful vandals targeted museum director Anne Pasternak’s home on Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, tossing red paint on the door and displaying a banner in the outdoor vestibule that read, “Anne Pasternak Brooklyn Museum White-Supremacist Zionist.”
An inverted red triangle was also sprayed on her door — a symbol used in the past by Hamas to identify Israeli military targets.
The shocking conduct, which was widely condemned by elected officials, is being probed as a hate crime, police said.
The NYPD released surveillance footage of five masked suspects wanted in the destruction of Pasternak’s building.
Authorities also blasted out images and video of three of the four vandals who threw red paint on the German consulate at United Nations Plaza in Manhattan around 3:30 a.m.
The group fled from the consulate in a dark-colored vehicle, cops said.
The building was still dripping with red paint Wednesday afternoon akin to something out of a horror film.
Law enforcement sources said investigators are looking into whether the two cases, along with similar vandalism across the city, are connected.
Hours before the NYPD released the footage, the department said there were “several incidents” where a red liquid substance was used to destroy property at different spots in the city.
A building on Douglass Street in Brooklyn was also targeted and a witness told The Post she saw two men wearing all black spray paint the building around 11 a.m.
“They spray painted all that with red,” said the 25-year-old woman who did not want to give her name.
“And I was like, really confused, nothing like that ever happens in this neighborhood. It’s so quiet. It’s quiet, it’s calm and everyone pretty much knows each other.”
An Upper East Side apartment building and the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations were also vandalized, and two American flags were lit on fire in front of the Consulate General of Israel in Manhattan Wednesday, police said.
Board members of the Brooklyn Museum were also singled out by vandals Wednesday.
Additional reporting by Steven Vago
