Des Moines police are searching for a man who lit an LGBTQ+ flag on fire downtown.
Surveillance video captured a man burning the flag outside the Blazing Saddle in the East Village early Wednesday morning.
"I was just angry and confused all at the same time that somebody would even do that," said Bryan Smith, co-owner of the Blazing Saddle.
Shortly before 5 a.m., video shows the suspect trying to light the nylon flag over and over. At points the man can be seen biting the flag before ripping it down.
After the flag is in flames on the ground, the man walks away.
Police discussed with KCCI the charges that the individual would face.
"There is obviously potentially an arson charge," said Sgt. Paul Parizek, with Des Moines police. "The criminal mischief for the vandalism, but when you think about the business that he targeted that certainly opens it up to the possibility that it could be a hate crime."