A downtown Peoria tattoo shop is asking for help, and is at the center of a Peoria Police Department alleged hate crime investigation after an LGBTQ pride flag was stolen from the business over the weekend.
Representatives of In Bloom Tattoo Collective posted on their Facebook page this weekend, sharing surveillance camera footage that appears to show four men taking down a flagpole and removing two flags — a business logo flag and a rainbow LGBTQ pride flag.
“This was a hate crime. This wasn’t a prank. This wasn’t just four individuals being silly,” said In Bloom owner Jess Fuller Mohn in another post to the business’ Facebook page. “This was four grown men, who we have video and audio footage of.”
According to the Peoria Police Department, officers responded to the tattoo shop in the 300 block of Liberty Street around 8 p.m. Saturday for a report of vandalism. Police said the business owner reported the stolen flags and provided photos of the suspects from the camera footage.
Police say the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
June is LGBTQ Pride Month.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Peoria Police Department.
In June 2023, a trio of men were arrested for an alleged hate crime after they were suspected of stealing and burning Pride flags from homes in Peoria’s Uplands neighborhood.
