Portsmouth hate graffiti investigation: Police want security videos from these locations

PORTSMOUTH — The unidentified person seen on camera spray painting hateful imagery, including swastikas, on a slew of downtown businesses and places of worship early Tuesday is believed by investigators to have acted alone.

As the community grapples with another episode of hate, Portsmouth police are calling for assistance to help identify the perpetrator, also releasing a list of streets from which they hope to receive security footage. Local authorities are working with the state attorney general's office.

A total of 15 locations in and around downtown were hit with spray paint between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, including Temple Israel, according to Portsmouth police Detective Sgt. Kevin McCarthy.

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Surveillance footage provided by Grim North Tattoo & Piercing, a High Street business targeted in the widespread incident on Tuesday, shows a masked person in a red sweatshirt wearing khaki pants and white shoes spray painting the building.

Previous story:Portsmouth pushes back on overnight wave of hateful graffiti targeting Temple, businesses

The incident caught on camera occurred just before 3 a.m. Tuesday. Police have not definitively determined whether there was more than one person responsible for the tagging, though according to McCarthy, the person seen on Grim North’s security cameras has appeared on other surveillance footage around the city, leading police to suspect there was one person.

Where Portsmouth police want security video

Portsmouth police are seeking security footage from a number of areas: The portion of the downtown between Deer, Middle and Court streets, with additional areas Marcy Street, Summer Street through Miller Avenue and the surrounding streets; South Street from Miller Avenue to Marcy Street; Marcy Street from Court Street to New Castle Avenue and Maplewood Avenue towards Woodbury Avenue.

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There has been a rise in public neo-Nazi activity in the Seacoast recently by the Nationalist Social Club, a recognized hate group in New England known as NSC-131. Some community members have asked whether Tuesday’s acts were conducted by hate groups. In the past, NSC-131 has protested a drag story hour at the Seacoast Repertory Theatre, left recruitment materials on residents' properties and hung a sign over Route 1 last summer with the offensive message, "Keep New England White," leading to charges of violating the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act.

“Other than the content of the speech, I have no evidence that they are specifically tied with any group,” McCarthy said of the person seen on surveillance footage.

Businesses and buildings targeted included Macro Polo, 3 Bridges Yoga, St. John’s Masonic Lodge on Middle Street and Cup of Joe Cafe & Bar, a Market Street business owned by city Assistant Mayor Joanna Kelley.

Police ask members of the public with information to call McCarthy at (603) 610-7656. Tips can be reported anonymously by contacting the Seacoast Crime Stoppers at (603) 431-1199 or 1-207-439-1199, or via seacoastcrimestoppers.org.

What charges might be filed in this case if suspect is arrested?

New Hampshire Attorney General spokesperson Michael Garrity said a hate crime in the state is any criminal act substantially motivated by the victim’s religion, race, creed, sexual orientation, national origin, sex, or gender identity. Garrity said New Hampshire's Civil Rights Act prohibits actual or threatened uses of physical force, property damage, and trespass upon property motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity or disability.

"As the facts come into focus, we would consider a wide range of potential charges, actions, or legal options and would not want to speculate on those at this time," he said.

'They went after people of color' and different faiths or sexuality, assistant mayor says

Assistant Mayor Joanna Kelley, who is Black and whose business Cup of Joe Cafe & Bar was targeted by the hateful graffiti, spoke about the incident during a City Council meeting Tuesday night.

Kelley said she felt awestruck, saddened and angry. Silence following such acts cannot be accepted, she said.

“I think it was very clear, and spoke so loudly of our community, that we will not be quiet in acts of hate,” she said. “We’ve seen this happen in our community before. We were not quiet before and we will not be quiet again.”

Kelley said she believes the locations were targeted.

“They went after people of color, people of a different faith, people of a different sexuality, of gender (and) origin. It’s not one-offs,” Kelley said. “We have to make sure that we root these people out of our community and that they know that they’re not welcome here. I ask everyone at home, everyone in our community and everyone here, to not just take a moment of silence but to take a vow of action, to take a vow of unity, to stand up for who we are as a community and what we know is right.”

Mayor Deaglan McEachern called it “incredibly disturbing” to see hate symbols painted on Kelley’s shop, “where she puts as much time and effort serving coffee as she does on the City Council serving citizens.”

The mayor said the incidents on Tuesday are “not necessarily” isolated from the recent displays of hate in Portsmouth.

“I don't know what drives folks to do that, but I know what it drives me to do, and that is … to reject that ideology in any turn, to continue to fight, to live up to the ideals of a racial justice municipality and to press harder to become the ‘City of the Open Door,’” he said.

Former City Council member Paige Trace read a statement she prepared. “You think you hide behind freedom of speech, but scurrying late at night, with masks, vandalizing Portsmouth with your special brand of stupidity will get you nowhere,” she said. “We are Portsmouth. We will not succumb to you. We are strong and we are brave for each other. We love our city, and we protect our neighbors.”

Trace received a round of applause from meeting attendees and council members after her remarks.

Portsmouth police Chief Mark Newport told councilors officers had been at work all day scouring through footage and speaking with community members as they investigated.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH hate graffiti investigation: Police want security videos