A still of secuirty footage captured outside of Thornes Marketplace in the early morning hours of Thursday, June 19, where four individuals took down eight Pride flags hanging on the building’s awning before buring them in a pile in the middle of Main Street.
Photo credit: Thornes Marketplace
NORTHAMPTON — Several individuals were seen via security camera removing pride flags from the Thornes Marketplace building awning before setting them on fire in the middle of Main Street and fleeing the scene in the early morning hours of Thursday, June 19.
In a statement posted to Facebook following the incident, Thornes Marketplace stated, “This act of hate and intimidation has no place in our community. Thornes Marketplace stands firmly with our LGBTQIA+ neighbors, merchants and staff, and we will not tolerate violence or vandalism meant to silence or threaten.”
Thornes co-owner Jody Doele told Reminder Publishing she and others with Thornes realized later in the morning that the flags were missing when coming into work. After reviewing security camera footage, the staff saw the individuals removing the flags before taking them to the middle of Main Street and lighting them on fire.
“These individuals were tearing down the flags at 1:23 in the morning and putting them in a pile and lighting them on fire on Main Street and then leaving,” Doele said. “We were grateful because someone drove by and actually ultimately put out the little fire and threw the flags into the trash can later that morning.”
The stills from the recording shared by Thornes on their Facebook page show at least four people involved in the incident. Doele said they are planning to file charges against individuals.
“Our building operations person immediately called the police and reported the incident. We put that post out and we got a number of very credible tips about who these people are, and we’ve shared them all with the police,” Doele said.
Doele noted that many people came to Thornes with tips on the suspects after their Facebook post and said she anticipates Northampton police to finish their investigation sooner rather than later. She added that Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra and Northampton Police Chief John Cartledge met to discuss the issue. At press time, no charges had officially been filed.
“Given the information we collected and the police also have, I’m really hopeful that these people will be brought in,” said Doele.
Thornes initially announced they will be offering a $250 Thornes gift card as a reward for the identification of one or more of the individuals involved. Doele said based on the number of credible tips and leads received from the public, they will be finding the best way to award and thank some of the different people who reached out to assist.
Doele shared that the one silver lining from this hateful incident is the support shown by the Northampton community and the overwhelming public response that this act of hate will not be tolerated in the community.
“We were so grateful for the community’s response. It really struck a chord with people, and our belief is that we can’t just let this stuff happen and not work to remedy it and to hold people accountable. If it was American flags, we would be doing the same exact thing. It’s just not OK to vandalize, steal and then create a little arson. It’s just not OK and we don’t want this type of behavior in our community,” said Doele. “We’re not going to take the position that boys are just being boys and that this was just a stupid decision. They didn’t pull down one flag, they pulled down all eight, and then they took them and burned them so it’s not that kind of thing … it’s a much more serious offense in my mind.”
