INDEPENDENCE, Mo — A family in Independence still has more questions than answers. Crystal Shafaf and her son are still experiencing vandalism since their pride flags were stolen and burned a month ago.
“I just want the person who’s doing this caught and I want it to stop,” Shafaf. “Everything else is replaceable, I’m just concerned about his safety.”
Shafaf is talking about her transgender son, Dae Long. The series of targeted attacks have taken a huge toll on him.
“A lot of people are like, 'Well you do too much. You’re basically fighting back," Shafaf said. "Well one, I want to show him that you don’t give into bullies."
Since the last incident, Shafaf says the suspects have stolen multiple yard signs that support trans rights. It all came to a head last Thursday when Long found the side yard in flames.
“And the only reason he knew is, his bearded dragon is right here at this window and he came downstairs to turn the bearded dragon’s daylight on and noticed that it was on fire," Long said. "Otherwise we wouldn’t have known even then.”
According to the next door neighbor’s surveillance camera, the fire started around 2:20 in the morning and was in flames for at least three hours.
They are relieved the homes did not catch on fire.
“Oh my god, now we’re escalating things beyond just purely stealing pride things, to almost catching our house on fire,” Shafaf said.
All corners of the house are now monitored with additional cameras, hoping to catch those responsible. The LGBTQ+ community has even sent out watch groups to the house to they would feel safer.
Shafaf wants more help from the Independence Police Department. KSHB 41 reached out to the police multiple times for any updates. This story will be updated if a response is received.
“Multiple police reports and that’s all they do — they take the police reports and they say well we’ll increase police presence but I haven’t see it,” Shafaf said.
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