'Bird God' Vandal Says Great-Great-Grandfather Told Him To Do It

BROOKLYN, NY — The vandal who stole a crane to spray paint "Bird God" in massive letters on the Grand Army Plaza archway on Sunday was following the instructions of his great-great-grandfather through a 1960s letter, the man told officials.

Denis Shelagin, 36, told authorities that he was told to deface the famed Brooklyn monument, known as the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, in a letter that his great-great-grandfather wrote in 1960 and that he was "afraid what was going to happen" to him if he didn't follow through, according to a criminal complaint.

Shelagin, who is from Washington, is facing more than a dozen federal charges for stealing a boom lift crane Sunday afternoon and using it to paint the mysterious phrase as cops surrounded him below.

The tag, Shelagin said, was apparently meant to draw attention to pigeon slayings, though he didn't specify exactly where and how the killings are happening.

"People are killing pigeons and chopping their feet up," he told authorities in the complaint. "I had to bring awareness to that."

The giant graffiti tag caused about $250,000-worth of damage to the monument, which stands at the north entrance to Prospect Park.

Shelagin stole the crane from where it is kept a few blocks away from the arch on Vanderbilt Avenue just before 11 a.m. and started his graffiti just an hour later, the complaint said.

Cops spotted Shelagin standing in the cherry picker 40 feet above the ground from six blocks away and caught up to him as he was writing "Bird God," the complaint said.

The officers called for him to come down, but Shelagin looked down at the cops and just kept spray painting, cops said in the complaint.

It took about 20 minutes for Shelagin to finish his graffiti before he finally was ready to come down. He was left stuck for a while longer, though, because he couldn't figure out how to lower the crane, cops said.

Shelagin is facing grand larceny, unauthorized use of a vehicle, criminal mischief, making graffiti and suspending himself from "prohibited structures."