MANHATTAN — A vandal hopped a SoHo church fence and broke a trio of statues by hurling them at a Virgin Mary sculpture in an incident police are investigating as a hate crime, the NYPD said.
The man jumped the fence at St. Anthony of Padua Church, at 155 Sullivan St. near Houston Street, around 12:40 a.m. on June 26, picked up three statues and threw them at the Virgin Mary sculpture, police said.
Surveillance video from the scene shows the man chucking the third statue before climbing over the fence and walking westbound on Houston Street.
All four of the statues were damaged, police said.
The church’s pastor couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Monday.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
