Media and safety officials across New York are absolutely perplexed after someone replaced the American flags atop the Brooklyn Bridge with white flags.
"It's a huge feat to scale this bridge and to get up on top of that flagpole to put white flags there. Who could have done that?" (Via CNN)
"The big questions right now? Who did this and why? Is it a prank? Is it a political protest?"(Via WABC)
"Police and the Department of Transportation are trying to figure out who switched out the flags and when it happened." (Via Time Warner Cable News)
Early Tuesday morning, Brooklyn residents noticed the American flags that normally sit on top of the Brooklyn Bridge were no longer there. (Via Getty Images)
In their place were a pair of white flags, at least one with visible stars and stripes bleached white. It took city officials a couple of hours to eventually replace them with traditional American flags. (Via MSNBC)
As to who and how the flags got switched? Well, there's a little bit of info circulating about how this could've been done.
DNAinfo writes, "Alarmed doors that give workmen access to the towers apparently were not compromised, leaving outside cable of the likely means to get to the flags."
According to ABC, NYPD officials say they have surveillance video showing four or five people walking onto the bridge a little after 3 a.m.
And the New York Post cites sources saying "The cops ... packed up large aluminum cooking pans, which the vandals used to cover the bridge's lights in order to pull off the stunt. Lights on the Brooklyn tower went out at 3:29 a.m. and they went out on the Manhattan tower at 3:42 a.m."
Webcam footage by EarthCam and posted to DNAinfo appears to show that exact moment. Here's another look at it.
But, while no injuries were reported during the mysterious switch-a-roo and no one was physically harmed by it, it appears to be garnering so much attention because it left so many feeling uneasy.
Mike Repplier, an ABC producer, took a picture of the flags and tweeted, "The white flags flying over the Brooklyn Bridge are scaring me a bit..."
And Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams posted a statement to social media saying, "If flying a #whiteflag on the #BrooklynBridge is someone’s idea of a joke, I’m not laughing. ... Political and social expression, whatever its message may be, has a place in our society, but not at the expense of others’ security." (Via Getty Images)
At a press conference, Adams announced a $5,000 reward for anyone with info leading to the arrest of the suspects involved in the white flag hanging.
