Rochester Police Are Seeking Masked Man Who’s Terrorizing Gay Household
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The Rochester, New York police department (RPD) are seeking a suspect who’s been terrorizing a gay household on Park Avenue.
Rochester police officials say the department is in the midst of a “long-term investigation” regarding a series of crimes and suspicious incidents at a home on Park Avenue.
Police released a photo of a person of interest in the investigation Thursday morning. They say if anyone is able to recognize the individual, they are asked to call 911:
According to resident Peter Scribner, the address has been targeted and terrorized a number of times over the past 11 months including threatening messages, a hospitalized dog, and “tens of thousands of dollars” in property damages.
Scribner says the house, located on Park Avenue in the city, sits on a site a few hundred feet back from the road. He says the first incident occurred at 1 a.m. on March 17, 2021 when a “masked assailant dressed like a commando” ran up to the back of the house and smashed several windows with a pole.
Scribner says the words “next is a firebomb, parasite” were spray painted on the driveway as well.
According to Scribner, a similar incident occurred approximately 48 hours later when a glass door was smashed through. During this encounter, Scriber says a dog owned by the residents was kicked by the suspect.
The dog, a Yorkshire Terrier named Oskar, spent two weeks at Cornell Companion Animal Hospital in Ithaca, and according to Scribner, has yet to fully recover from his injuries.
Scribner says five days after the second incident, on March 23, 2021 an intruder returned and smashed three more windows and left another spray-painted message on the driveway that read: “Only gets worse.”
Intrusions continued over the course of the next few months, including cutting through a fence, driving a truck through a wooden driveway fence, and ramming a car into vehicles owned by the residents.
Scribner says the intruder stopped for a few months, but returned on January 1, 2022 with a knife, before leaving the property after security systems were engaged.
Most recently, the resident says an unknown person walked up to the driveway and took pictures of the house late Friday night.
Scribner says in total there have been 13 attacks over 11 months, personal injuries to residents, an attack on their dog, thousands of dollars in damages, and many sleepless nights.
He says he doesn’t know the motivation of the intrusions, but believes their house is being targeted because three gay men live there.
“The attacks are terrorizing and hateful,” Scribner said. “Despite the hard work of the police, they need the help of the public.”
According to Scribner, the attacker appears to be a white man around 5’10” and he regularly wears a mask, dark clothes, military boots with pant legs bloused into them, a knit hat, and gloves.
Manuel Rivera-Ortiz said it all started last March , when several windows were smashed with a pole. He said two days later things turned violent when someone broke into the home and he ran after the suspect.
“I needed to send a message. It’s funny because I think when that happens, the adrenaline kicks in and you honestly don’t care what happens to you as long as you try to put a stop to it. Send the message, not here, not now, not ever,” said Rivera-Ortiz.
His roommate called 911. “I was screaming at 911, while screaming for Manuel because I didn’t know if he was alive or dead or not,” said roommate Peter Scribner.
Other incidents include threatening messages spray painted on the driveway. One even left their dog injured.
On New Year’s Day, Rochester police say the man jumped on the patio fence with a knife in his hand. Even though the incident happened over two months ago, the terror seems to never stop.
“You feel like eyes are watching you from anywhere, this way, that way, or that way, that somebody is watching you and that is the creepiest, most bizarre feeling,” said Rivera-Ortiz.
Both residents agree, the person behind these incidents needs help.
“As much as we hate what this person has done, and the terror that they’ve caused to Manuel and to our dog, we’re also sorry for them. This is a completely unmotivated, series of psychotic episodes,” said Scribner.
