Police in Washington State arrested a 31-year-old man on Tuesday after he allegedly vandalized a church, attacked a church employee and smashed a police cruiser with a backpack full of spray paint cans.
The suspect could be seen on camera throwing a rock at a door inside a pastoral office at St. Louise Catholic Church in Bellevue before kicking and punching the glass in, according to Fox 13 News. A woman who was inside praying attempted to engage the man but ultimately locked herself inside as he spray painted the building’s exterior.
The man destroyed one entrance to a building, shattered a door at the church’s parish hall and spray-painted more than a dozen places throughout the church’s campus with messages such as “liar,” “religion of hate,” and “go to your fake Hell.”
The man then attacked a church employee who attempted to run him off. The suspect threw a rock at the employee and spray-painted his face.
He then smashed a police cruiser with his backpack full of spray paint cans before turning himself in to police. He was taken into custody without physical harm and transported to a local hospital as he appeared to sustain an injury while smashing one of the doors, Bellevue Police Captain Darryl McKinney told Fox 13 News.
McKinney said the damage would be considered a hate crime. The man will also face charges for assaulting the church employee, according to the report.
“Obviously, there’s a lot going on in the world,” said McKinney. “People are worked up about things. They’re upset – or, at least some people are – I think there are some emotions stirred up and we’re seeing people act how they normally wouldn’t.”
Father Gary Zender told the outlet it was hard to say whether the attack was related to the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
As the fight over abortion in the U.S. has grown more contentious, churches and pregnancy centers have increasingly been on the receiving end of violent attacks.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has tracked at least 143 incidents of vandalism at Catholic sites in the U.S. since May 2020. The incidents, which have occurred across 36 states and Washington, D.C., include arson; statues beheaded; statue limbs cut, smashed, and painted; gravestones defaced with swastikas and anti-Catholic language and American flags next to them burned; and other destruction and vandalism.
The USCCB began tracking vandalism at Catholic sites after a pair of Catholic churches — San Gabriel Mission in California and Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Florida – were set on fire on July 11, 2020.
Zender noted his immediate priority is making sure his employee is okay and then repairing the physical damage done to the church.
“People want the church to be a safe place, that’s what we try to consistently do,” Zender said. “It doesn’t feel safe for some folks right now. We just need to keep looking to Jesus and try to offer the ministry of healing the best way we can.”