Four homes in the Sungarden neighborhood of Citrus Heights in California were reportedly targeted early Saturday morning. Each of them was displaying Old Glory.
Police are asking Sungarden residents to assist them in identifying those responsible for setting fire to four American flags on Saturday morning. Authorities have yet to identify a motive, but in each case, the flags were specifically ignited.
“If it had burned longer it would have caught the house on fire,” one of the four victims, Marie Nuzzi, said. “Somebody’s lives, for what?” Michael Howard, a fellow target, just wants to know why. “This is the first time anything’s happened,” Howard said. “Gut reaction? Is it somebody with an agenda?”
Despite the timing, authorities have yet to connect the crimes to the nationwide demonstrations sparked by the alleged murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin of the Minneapolis Police Department. Nuzzi was also hesitant to jump to conclusions. “I really don’t want to think like that, I really don’t,” she said. “I just think it was kind of a random thing.”
Regardless, she will not be raising another flag at her home. “It’s not worth it for me to put my family through it,” she said. Nuzzi also lamented the fact that someone would sneak around just to burn American flags in the first place: “There’s just no respect there.”