Police are searching for the person who vandalized the 80-year-old Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton, California, according to a local report.
A priest discovered white paint splashed across the Catholic cathedral’s doors, the brick wall, the street and the sidewalk, according to Deacon Richard Braun, KCRA reported. The priest also found a can of paint primer on the side of the church before the 7:00 a.m. mass on Sunday, per the outlet.
The word “Die” was written twice on West Rose Street, according to KCRA, leading Church leaders to believe the incident may be a hate crime.
“Just splashing anything on a church leads me to believe that, and then the words scrawled onto the streets of ‘Die’ has me a little concerned,” Braun said, per the outlet. “It’s a scary feeling. Especially with a lot of Catholic churches around the world have been vandalized since the beginning of COVID for whatever reasons, so it does get us worried.”
Braun added the church has been vandalized and broken into before, KCRA reported. (RELATED: Catholic Church Vandalized With Pro-Abortion Graffiti).
Investigators are gathering evidence to determine whether the incident qualifies as a hate crime, “Just depending on the property damage, we’ll determine whether it’s a misdemeanor or a felony, and then obviously, hate crime would elevate it to a more severe status of that charge,” said David Scott, a Stockton Police Public Information Officer, per the outlet.
No surrounding buildings were targeted, but the paint spread across power poles and on one resident’s trailer, the outlet noted.
A nearby resident shared surveillance footage showing at least one person walking around the street and shouting at approximately 6:00 a.m., around the time police believe the incident took place, KCRA reported.
“I am deeply saddened by the early morning vandalism at our beloved Cathedral,” Bishop Myron Cotta said in a statement posted to Facebook by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton. “I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to our dedicated parish staff and parishioners for their swift assistance in managing the situation.”
The Cathedral of the Annunciation posted an update on the cleaning on Monday, thanking “a generous parishioner” who “was able to remove the paint from the signs, bricks, and stone with his pressure washer” and noting that they are still “researching the best way to remove the paint from the wooden doors without damage.”
“Thank you for your continued prayers! Let us also pray for a change of heart for those who committed this unfortunate act,” the statement continued.
Despite the incident, the church remained open, and the masses continued as scheduled, per the cathedral’s Facebook post.