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City police report that hate crime investigators are on the case as Algonquin College security seeks help from the campus community to identify a suspect in a vandalism incident.

Police say the detectives are investigating a Tuesday incident at the college in which an artwork with an Indigenous theme was defaced with yellow paint. Police said the suspect entered Algonquin’s C Building at about 8:26 p.m. carrying a plastic bag and what appeared to be a mop, then went to the painting and defaced it by splattering paint on it.

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The incident was reported Wednesday to police, who say they consider the man in surveillance images released by the college a person of interest or suspect in the case.

Photo by Algonquin College (left) Beyond Media (right)

Algonquin College Security Services is asking for help to identify a subject in relation to the incident on the second floor of the C Building at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The incident “has caused great pain in our college community,” president and CEO Claude Brulé said in a statement condemning the graffiti, which covered the “beautiful hawk” in a three-storey mural telling the creation story of many Indigenous peoples.