Man caught on camera bashing Virgin Mary mural with sledgehammer

Add Us On GoogleAdd as a preferred source on Google

LOS ANGELES (KCAL/KCBS) – Police are looking for a man caught on camera vandalizing a church mural.

The pastor and parishioners at St. Elisabeth Catholic Church were left saddened and stunned when they watched security video showing a man bashing a mural of the Virgin Mary with a sledgehammer.

“You feel bad. You have no words,” said Father Vito Di Marzio, the pastor of the Van Nuys neighborhood church. “In the Catholic faith, the Virgin Mary is special because she is the mother of Jesus, the mother of God.”

Di Marzio said the vandalism happened around 1:30 a.m. on April 21 while he was sleeping on the other side of the building.

He thought someone was knocking on the door, so he went back to sleep. The next morning, he discovered what had happened.

The unidentified man is seen on video approaching the church’s Virgin of Guadalupe mural and taking one swing before hopping up on the altar.

He then continues to smash the tiles that make up the face of the Virgin Mary a dozen more times.

“I was shocked,” Di Marzio said. “I went to say Mass, and I invited all the people to pray for the author of this sacrilegious act.”

The pastor called police to report the vandalism that defaced the 35-year-old hand-painted ceramic mural.

“I’m not angry,” Di Marzio said. “Since the beginning, we were praying for him, that he will repent and realize that it is something very wrong.”

Di Marzio wants the suspect to be held accountable for what he did, but he also hopes the man will find help and healing from whatever issues he may be facing.

“For sure, he needs some help, especially medical attention, I’m sure,” Di Marzio said. “He should ask for forgiveness, and the Lord will forgive him.”

The church will have to replace the damaged tiles. They plan to install bulletproof barriers in front of the mural.