LGBTQ+ artwork vandalized repeatedly in Bellevue

BELLEVUE, Wash. — It’s a busy intersection in the heart of Bellevue, featuring a piece of LGBTQ+ artwork. But, it appears one individual continues to vandalize public property, causing headaches for local law enforcement and a safety concern for fellow citizens.

Bellevue police are asking for the community’s assistance in trying to catch what they believe is one brazen individual who’s been vandalizing the LGBTQ+ artwork in the city’s downtown core over the past couple of months.

The damage is evident. You can see tire marks streaking across the Downtown Bellevue mural. Artwork that was just recently unveiled a few months ago during the city’s “Pride” celebrations.

But since then, a young male driving what authorities are describing as a dark silver or grey BMW sedan has been vandalizing it. Other than the make and model of the car, that vehicle was unidentifiable, since the driver had reportedly removed the license plates.

He’s allegedly conducted multiple burnouts directly on the artwork. Dating back to July, there have been three separate occurrences of vandalism. And, it’s cost the city a total of more than $13,000 in damages. It’s also putting others at risk.

Now, Drew Anderson of the Bellevue Police Department is urging community members to come forward to help identify him.

“The reason why we’re coming to y’all and asking for the public’s help, is that we have enough information now that could be identifiable for the suspect,” says the BPD Public Information Officer.

“It’s a young male, but we needed to know more,” Anderson continues. “We needed to know who this person is. And, we wanted to know why they allegedly decided to commit these crimes, because they ended up putting the community’s safety at risk by doing these burnouts.”

It’s clear the driver is not concerned with the public safety. There’s a busy crosswalk and a park situated right next to the intersection, putting even more folks in danger.

He’s even been bold enough to act in broad daylight. In one instance, on September 7th, he had the windows rolled down. Traffic cameras got a glimpse of him, before he peeled out into rush hour traffic with pedestrians in the crosswalk.

Once they identify him, Bellevue police say they could charge him with reckless driving and vandalizing city property. However, authorities can’t officially make the jump to labeling this as a ‘hate crime’ until they apprehend this individual and question him about his motives.

“We don’t know what his intentions were,” Anderson asserts. “That’s why we want to talk to this individual. Because we can’t make that leap to say that this was targeted. We need to know more information. We want to know what compelled this individual to come here three times and do these burnouts.”

Bellevue police waited until now to alert the public. But, as they try to identify the individual responsible, officers hope to continue gathering key evidence and details that could lead to an arrest.

Until then, there’s still the possibility it could happen again, which concerns Officer Anderson.

“That’s the tough part. And, that’s why we want to solve this as soon as we can, because it could happen,” Anderson acknowledges.

“Again, crime doesn’t happen often in Bellevue, but it does. And so, we want to do what we can to prevent future burnouts on this art installation from happening. So, again, public help us. Call Crime Stoppers or call us directly… let’s see if we can figure out who this person is.”

If you happen to have any additional information, you are urged to reach out to Crimestoppers of Puget Sound at 1-800-222-TIPS. Tips leading to an arrest may receive an award.

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