Confederate Flags Left at MLK Center, Ebenezer Baptist Church

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Atlanta police are determined to discover the identities of two men who placed Confederate flags at the church where Dr. Martin Luther King once preached and the site where he is buried.

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.