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Dallas Police Investigating Oak Lawn '666' Graffiti As Hate Crimes

Doualy Xaykaothao
/
KERA News
Brenda Marks says she takes the tagging personally. She's president of the neighborhood group Oak Lawn Committee, which maintains the Legacy of Love monument in Dallas. The monument was among several landmarks vandalized over the weekend.

Vandals spray-painted the numerals 666 in red, in at least six locations in Dallas, including two gathering places for gay and lesbians. The graffiti is now being investigated as hate crimes. 

Six police reports have been filed, but Monica Cordova, a Dallas Police Department spokeswoman, says detectives learned Monday of three more sites via social media. Many of the sites are in Oak Lawn.  

Targets included the Cathedral of Hope, the world’s largest gay and lesbian church, and the Legacy of Love monument. 

“It’s being treated as a hate crime as of right now, until we can eliminate that, because of where it happened," she said.

Vandals tagged locations in red paint with “666,” which some associate with Satan.

Brenda Marks, president of the Oak Lawn Committee, which maintains the Legacy of Love monument, says she takes the tagging personally.  

“This monument to me is a part of my family," she said. "And so when this monument is defaced with hurtful symbols, it is as if I had a child that was bullied.”

Overnight, volunteers from the nearby Cathedral of Hope managed to wash off most of the red 666. 

Also tagged: the offices of The Dallas Morning News and The Dallas Observer.

The vandalism came as cities across the country celebrated gay pride over the weekend with parades and festivals.

Doualy Xaykaothao is a newscaster and reporter for NPR, based in Culver City. She returned to NPR for this role in 2018, and is responsible for writing, producing, and delivering national newscasts. She also reports on breaking news stories for NPR.
Eric Aasen is KERA’s managing editor. He helps lead the station's news department, including radio and digital reporters, producers and newscasters. He also oversees keranews.org, the station’s news website, and manages the station's digital news projects. He reports and writes stories for the website and contributes pieces to KERA radio. He's discussed breaking news live on various public radio programs, including The Takeaway, Here & Now and Texas Standard, as well as radio and TV programs in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.