New York City police are investigating the destruction of a Virgin Mary statue outside St. Rita Roman Catholic Church in Long Island City as a possible hate crime. Surveillance video released by the Diocese of Brooklyn shows a masked man climbing over a fence and repeatedly smashing the statue with a hammer.
The incident occurred around 1:42 a.m. on August 1. In the video, the suspect, wearing a dark T-shirt and shorts, enters a courtyard, removes a hammer from his pocket, and strikes the statue until it is knocked off its pedestal. He then leaves the scene.
Catholic officials stated that this is the fourth reported vandalism incident targeting the parish since 2024. Previous acts of vandalism include the destruction of a 60-year-old stained-glass window, graffiti on a statue of St. Francis of Assisi and the sidewalk, and damage to a statue of St. Jude inside the church.
The New York City Police Department has not made any arrests in connection with the incident. This vandalism occurs amidst a reported increase in hate crimes in the city. According to John Quaglione, Deputy Press Secretary for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, NYPD crime statistics show hate crimes are up by 9.4% for the first seven months of the year compared to the same period last year.