Confederate Flag Suspects Caught on Camera

Atlanta police have released surveillance video from the area around the King Center and Ebenezer Baptist Church which allegedly shows the two men who placed four Confederate flags on the properties overnight Thursday.

Four flags were removed from the grounds of Ebenezer Baptist Church and the King Center on Thursday morning, according to WSB-TV. Surveillance camera footage shows two white men placing the flags overnight Thursday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a maintenance man first noticed the flags at around 6 a.m.

Atlanta police chief George Turner said in a press conference that the incident is a hate crime, and added that the surveillance camera footage will be released to the public later Thursday in hopes that someone can identify the perpetrators, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Ebenezer Baptist Church Rev. Raphael G. Warnock told reporters that the incident was a terroristic threat and akin to putting a swastika on the grounds of a synagogue. Warnock said that the people responsible for the act were cowards.

The flags were removed from the premises by 9:30 a.m.