Crime & Safety
Vandal Attacks 63 Monuments And Headstones In Brooklyn Cemetery
A vandal attacked the Catholic cemetery the week before before Ash Wednesday and the first day of Lent, the Diocese of Brooklyn announced.
FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN — Dozens of historic headstones and monuments were vandalized in Flatbush’s Holy Cross Cemetery, church officials announced Tuesday.
A field manager discovered Friday morning that 63 pieces — including a 6-foot-tall shrine of St. Joseph — had been damaged at the Tilden Avenue cemetery, the Diocese of Brooklyn said in a statement.
Holy Cross staff will try to restore thirteen statues that were knocked over, but the damaged St. Joseph shrine broke into several pieces and cannot be reset, officials said.
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Police told the New York Daily News the crime was probably committed between 4 p.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday.
Holy Cross, a 96-acre cemetery founded in 1849, is where notable catholics such as Murder Inc.'s Louis Capone, Brooklyn Dodgers manager Gil Hodges, and New York City mayors William Russell Grace and Ardolph Loges Kline are buried, according to the Daily News.
Find out what's happening in Ditmas Park-Flatbushfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Photos courtesy of the Diocese of Brooklyn
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