FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio — The Fairview Park Police Department is investigating after a male vandalized Colors+, a nonprofit center that serves the youth LGBTQ+ community early Friday, according to Chief Paul Shepard.
Police said at 3 a.m. Friday, a male spray-painted a racial slur in graffiti on the building and threw a brick through a window that had a Black Lives Matter flag on display. The incident was captured on a security camera and a suspect was later identified and taken into custody.
The name and charges for the alleged vandal haven't been released.
Officers arrived at the center a few hours later, around 6:20 a.m., responding to reports from community members who had seen the damage. By the time the youth center's employees had found out about the incident, action was already being taken to clean things up.
"It's not going to change that it happened but we are so grateful that we have firefighters and police responders that responded very quickly. Our landlord responded and is extremely supportive and having firefighters board up that window, scrape off the paint that was on the windows before we even got here. Most of them was already scraped away," said executive director Kristen Pepera. "And then having volunteers come without question without us even calling them, them reaching out to us and seeing it and they cleaned up everything for us, and we're very, very grateful to have the people surrounding us that are so supportive because we couldn't do it without them."
The youth center just recently opened its refurbished location on Lorain Road about a month ago, and while the incident is disappointing, the organization isn't shying away from its mission of inclusivity and visibility.
"I think we were worried about when we became more visible that this was a possibility, that something might happen to be targeted. But we thought of course it was gonna be LGBTQ-related and it was Black Lives Matter targeted‚" Pepera said. "We are not going to stop supporting it. Because of that we're gonna hang our flag back up. We want to know that Black lives matter, trans lives matter and LGBTQ lives matter. And we're still here fighting for that to keep that safe space."
The vandalism is also being investigated as a possible hate crime, police said.
"We're going to let the investigation take it where it goes. And if, when it's all said and done, if our investigation shows that it's a hate crime, they'll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law as a hate crime if that meets the criteria," he said.
The building was recently refurbished and had a state-of-the-art video system that captured a man in a mask and hat.
"This coward acted alone and used the color of darkness and a mask and a hat to conceal their identity, but we're going to do everything we can to find this person because this is not what Fairview Park is or does. This person does not represent the city of Fairview Park or its citizens," Shepard said.
Shepard continued to reiterate the vandalism and the actions of one person don't represent what Fairview Park stands for.
"One person does not justify who 17,000 other people are. So people who live in the city, who work in the city, who served the residents of the city, don't condone this or accept this or tolerate this. So we do not want Fairview Park to be known for this event. And we're gonna do everything we can to correct it," Shepard said.
While the community has been supportive, Pepera said that even one act like this is too many.
"While people will say this isn't the culture of the community, it is very divided and very complicated throughout Ohio and throughout the country," Pepera said. "And we want to make sure that we're not putting it off as most of the community isn't like that—it's still important even if there's one person who is dissenting or one person who is negative or creating hate or doing violence that we're standing up and making sure that they get the services and resources they need to make sure that they're okay."
Meanwhile, Pepera said the group is hopeful the person responsible for the vandalism changes their ways.
"It would be nice to have the person who did this have some kind of consequence, but we're not looking for them to—we're looking for them to get help and resources. We're not looking for them to get a punishment. We're looking for them to get what they need," Pepera said.
Anyone with any information about the vandalism should call detective Richard Rutt at 440-356-4422 or email rrutt@fairviewpark.org.
Colors+ is also accepting positive messages to pass along to the youth that they serve. To learn more, click here.
A similar incident happened in the Fairview Park shopping center three weeks ago. Police said the suspect in custody is believed to be responsible for both incidents.
Watch our full report on the vandalism incident in mid-June below:
Police said more information will be released next week after the man in custody appears in court.
RELATED: Fairview Park Police search for person responsible for spray-painting racist graffiti on building
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