A statue of the Virgin Mary outside St. Rita Roman Catholic Church in Queens was decapitated with a hammer early Sunday morning. The New York Police Department's Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the incident, which occurred around 1:40 a.m. at the church located in Dutch Kills.
Surveillance footage shows a masked individual hopping a fence into the church's yard, repeatedly striking the statue with a hammer, causing its head to break off. The suspect then fled the scene. Officials from the Diocese of Brooklyn, which includes Queens, described the act as a "godless, hammer-wielding maniac" and a "blasphemous desecration."
Diocese officials reported that this is not the first instance of vandalism at St. Rita's this year. A statue of St. Francis was defaced and the sidewalk was vandalized with graffiti on March 21. Additionally, a statue of St. Jude and a stained glass window were reported to have been damaged. However, police records currently only list the Virgin Mary and St. Francis statue desecrations. It remains unclear if all the incidents are related.
The church has experienced at least three other incidents of property damage this year, according to the diocese. The nature of these attacks has led officials to investigate the possibility of hate crimes.