Vandal Destroys Flushing Buddhist Temple Statues

The alleged suspect near the scene on Jan. 16. Photo courtesy of the NYPD.

By Christina Carrega

Police are searching for a man who they say used a large piece of concrete to smash Buddhist statues in a Flushing temple.

On Jan. 16, NYPD officers responded to the Chinese Buddhist Temple on 39th Avenue, where an unidentified man threw a large concrete stone at statues. The statues were damaged and the smasher fled the scene.

The suspect is described as an Asian man, about 5 feet, 6 inches tall, with a medium build weighing about 155 pounds and approximately 30 years old. He was last seen wearing a gray hooded sweater with blue denim jeans and tan construction work boots.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

All calls are strictly confidential.