Police are probing hate crimes in Lurgan after a child was approached suspiciously at a play park, leading to property damage.
Lurgan: So, there’s been some serious trouble in Mourneview. Police are looking into a couple of incidents that happened after a child was approached in a dodgy way at a play park.
This all went down on Thursday evening. Around 4:40 PM, someone reported that a child was approached suspiciously. The cops showed up and ended up arresting a guy in the Ben Crom area on suspicion of assault. He’s still in custody.
Things got a bit wild when a crowd gathered outside the house where the arrest happened. They started throwing stones at a police vehicle, smashing its windows. Not cool, right?
After that, the police helped the people living there get out safely, but then those same folks had their windows smashed too. It didn’t stop there; reports came in that three different homes had their windows broken by crowds.
The police were on the scene all evening, trying to keep things under control. Superintendent Brendan Green said the homes that were targeted had nothing to do with the earlier incidents.
He made it clear that these acts of vandalism are being treated as hate crimes. He’s not having any of this violence and promised that they’ll investigate every single incident thoroughly.
Brendan also mentioned that they’re increasing patrols in the area and working with local leaders to keep the community safe. He wants everyone to know that if you come forward as a victim, they’ll support you.
He condemned the crowd’s actions against the police, saying it’s unacceptable for those trying to protect the community to be attacked. Luckily, no officers were hurt, but the police vehicle is out of commission now.
Brendan warned that if anyone gets involved in antisocial behavior that turns criminal, they’ll be tracked down and arrested. The community doesn’t want this kind of trouble, and the police are serious about bringing offenders to justice.
They’re still piecing together what happened and are asking anyone with info to reach out to them at 101.
