ASTORIA, Queens (PIX11) — Police are searching for a man in connection with a hate crime vandalism of a Catholic church in Astoria.
On March 21, at around 6:30 a.m., the man allegedly vandalized the religious statue with spray paint and wrote an anti-religious remark at St Rita’s Roman Catholic Church, located at 36-25 11th St, according to police investigators.
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The vandal spray-painted the parish’s statue of St. Francis of Assisi with the anti-religious remark below it on the sidewalk, according to the Brooklyn Diocesan newspaper, The Tablet.
Police are searching for a man in connection with a hate crime vandalism of a Catholic church. (NYPD Handout)
It is unknown where the person fled following the church vandalism.
No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.
Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Andrew Cruz is a digital content producer. A native New Yorker, he joined PIX11 in 2009 as a weather producer. More of his work can be found here.
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