Authorities are investigating a brazen attack outside St. Rita Roman Catholic Church in Long Island City, where a masked man was captured on surveillance video scaling a fence and systematically destroying a Virgin Mary statue with a hammer. The New York Police Department is treating the incident, which occurred around 1:42 a.m. on August 1st, as a possible hate crime, marking the fourth reported act of vandalism targeting the parish since the start of 2024. The Diocese of Brooklyn released chilling footage showing the suspect, clad in a dark t-shirt and shorts, entering the church courtyard, retrieving a hammer, and repeatedly striking the statue until it toppled from its pedestal before making his escape. This latest desecration follows previous incidents including the destruction of a 60-year-old stained-glass window, graffiti on statues of St. Francis of Assisi, and damage to a statue of St. Jude within the church, underscoring a disturbing pattern of attacks on the religious site amid a reported rise in hate crimes across New York City.
Adapted from: U.S. News Today on Fox News
