Lockport Township couple seeks answers on ripped Palestinian flag

A Lockport Township couple’s flag of Palestine was ripped apart by an unknown suspect Oct. 12, and they believe it was a possible hate crime.

Lena Mackley, a Palestinian-American, said she and her husband have been living in a quiet neighborhood of Lockport Township for three years, and they’ve only ever known “love and welcoming and support and appreciation.”

But Mackley’s husband made a disturbing discovery Oct. 12, when he took their dog for a walk and discovered their flag of Palestine had been ripped apart.

“We just felt so violated,” Mackley said.

Mackley said she and her husband suspect that whoever ripped their flag of Palestine knew to come to their house because other neighbors had flags that were not damaged.

“It’s pretty safe to say [that] I think we were targeted. This was a hate crime of sorts that we think. We don’t think it’s anybody we know,” Mackley said.

The Will County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case.

We’re thankful to be here and to have a home here to call our own. But that moment, it really shocked us that it would come.”

—  Lena Mackley, Lockport Township resident

In a news release, the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on police to “investigate a possible bias motive for an act of vandalism targeting a Palestinian-American family in the Lockport neighborhood.”

But so far, the sheriff’s office investigation has turned up no solid leads. Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Dan Jungles said the office has no “description of the offender due to poor video quality.”

“We have no suspect information at this time. Our detectives are currently going to be working on trying to identify a suspect,” Jungles said.

Mackley said she and her husband installed a video camera outside their porch because of the Oct. 12 incident.

“Hopefully, if this ever happens again, that it will catch the suspect,” she said.

A neighbor’s video caught someone who parked right in front of their house about 2:30 a.m. Oct. 12, but the footage was too distant from the scene, Mackley said. She said the vehicle was similar to an SUV or a minivan.

“We could see that the driver who drove here was the one who went on our property and then slashed it,” Mackley said.

Mackley has a new flag of Palestine hanging from her porch.

She said she put up the flag originally because her family is from Palestine, and she has family who live in the West Bank, which is bordered by Israel and Jordan.

“What’s happening in Palestine right now, it touches us. It’s personal for us,” Mackley said.

Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, more than 1,500 Israelis have been killed and more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s counterattack, according to a report from The New York Times. Most of Israel’s death toll occurred during the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack.

Mackley said her neighbors repaired her old flag and gave her and her husband a vase of beautiful flowers. She said Lockport is a “beautiful city.”

“We’re thankful to be here and to have a home here to call our own,” Mackley said. “But that moment, it really shocked us that it would come.”