Hammer-wielding vandal decapitates Virgin Mary statue at Queens Catholic church

At approximately 1:40 a.m. on Sunday, a masked person broke into the yard of St. Rita Roman Catholic Church in Dutch Kills, Queens, and used a hammer to smash a statue of the Virgin Mary, causing its head to detach. Surveillance video released by the Diocese of Brooklyn shows the individual in shorts and a T-shirt scaling a fence before the attack. The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force Unit has opened an investigation into the desecration.

Diocese officials reported three additional incidents of property damage at the church this year, including defacement of a St. Francis statue, graffiti on the sidewalk, and damage to a St. Jude statue and a 60-year-old stained-glass window. Police records currently list only the Virgin Mary and St. Francis statues as having been vandalized. It remains unclear whether the separate incidents are connected.