{"id":95051,"date":"2026-01-09T19:18:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/95051\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T19:18:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:18:26","slug":"altar-statue-damaged-in-mans-shocking-rampage-at-mass-at-staten-island-church-pastor-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/95051\/","title":{"rendered":"Altar, statue damaged in man\u2019s shocking rampage at Mass at Staten Island church, pastor says"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 In a shocking rampage, a man vandalized the altar at St. Ann\u2019s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills while Mass was being celebrated on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

A statue of an angel was broken and two NYPD officers were injured as mayhem ensued inside the church at 101 Cromwell Ave., sources told the Advance\/SILive.com. <\/p>\n

A law-enforcement source said the man was 28 years old.<\/p>\n

The man snatched, tossed and damaged religious items on the altar during the 7 a.m. Mass, according to the Rev. Jacob Thumma, the pastor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just cleaning up the mess now in the church as we speak,\u201d Father Thumma told the Advance\/SILive.com later on Friday.<\/p>\n

The pastor noted that the vandalism was the second troubling incident at one of his parishes in a little more than two weeks.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s episode began when the man entered the church after the doors were unlocked prior to the Mass. He allegedly removed the official liturgical book, and a cross from the altar. A priest asked the man to return those items and he complied, Father Thumma said.<\/p>\n

The man was sitting in the first pew with his jacket on the floor next to him and some of the parishioners who were frightened by the man\u2019s behavior left the church, the pastor said.<\/p>\n

Before the Mass started, someone notified 911, according to the pastor and a law-enforcement source.<\/p>\n

After the Mass began, the man allegedly ran onto the altar and tore down flowers and toppled the angel, breaking one of its wings. The marble floor of the altar was damaged during the rampage and the man threw a parishioner\u2019s missal in front of the altar, the pastor said.<\/p>\n

Initially, two police officers responded to the scene. The officers tried talking to the man, but he became belligerent and violent. The officers deployed a taser before the man was taken into custody, the law-enforcement source.<\/p>\n

A witness at the Mass videotaped the incident and the suspect also was captured on footage from parish surveillance cameras, the pastor said.<\/p>\n

One officer suffered a knee injury and the other a laceration to the head, the law-enforcement source said. Both injuries were considered minor.<\/p>\n

\"VandalismAn individual damaged an angel statue, a marble floor and other items on the altar during a morning Mass at St. Ann’s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. The Rev. Jacob Thumma, the pastor, holds a broken piece of the angel’s wing.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)Disturbing vandalism at St. Sylvester\u2019s Church<\/p>\n

In an unrelated incident, St. Sylvester\u2019s R.C. Church in Concord was defaced with feces during Mass on Christmas morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Father Thumma, who also pastors that church, previously said human feces was discovered on the main doors, steps and railing of St. Sylvester\u2019s during the 10 a.m. Mass.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the mass was going on around 10:30, I was walking to the church to thank people, and I found human (feces) on the door, smeared on the outside of the door,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He directed the congregation to exit through a side door.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Advance\/SILive.com after the incident at St. Sylvester\u2019s, the pastor said \u201cthere were a lot of people at the Mass, and I didn\u2019t want anyone to see that. So I sent them through the side door.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel sorry for the guy who did this; and why he did it, we don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"VandalismAn individual damaged an angel statue, a marble floor and other items on the altar during a morning Mass at St. Ann’s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)\"VandalismAn individual damaged an angel statue, a marble floor and other items on the altar during a morning Mass at St. Ann’s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)\"VandalismAn individual damaged an angel statue, a marble floor and other items on the altar during a morning Mass at St. Ann’s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. The Rev. Jacob Thumma, the pastor, holds a broken piece of the angel’s wing.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)\"VandalismAn individual damaged an angel statue, a marble floor and other items on the altar during a morning Mass at St. Ann’s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)\"VandalismAn individual damaged an angel statue, a marble floor and other items on the altar during a morning Mass at St. Ann’s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)\"VandalismAn individual damaged an angel statue, a marble floor and other items on the altar during a morning Mass at St. Ann’s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 In a shocking rampage, a man vandalized the altar at St. Ann\u2019s R.C. Church…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-95051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}