A swastika, numbers 666, and phalluses were spray-painted on the back of St. Mary Catholic Church in the Old Orange Historic District.
Orange police are investigating the graffiti as a misdemeanor criminal mischief case. Orange County District Attorney John Kimbrough said the incident could be a more serious offense, but first the facts need to be gathered.
“Report it to the police. The police will conduct an investigation and hopefully, they will find out who did it, why they did it, and what the circumstances are. Then you make decisions about the appropriate charge,” he said.
St. Mary Church in Orange has its roots back to 1880 and has had buildings at the current site, 912 West Cherry Avenue, for more than 100 years.
The graffiti was on the back of the sanctuary building on the side with a parking lot. A neighbor walking his dog saw the crude paintings about noon. He said he had not seen the drawings that morning.
That man, too, became a victim. When he returned to his house and walked behind his pickup truck, he saw a graffiti drawing.
St. Mary Catholic is one of several churches in the Old Orange Historic District and neighbors on a Facebook page said they will be more vigilant. “I’ll be watching like Gladys Kravitz,” one commented.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
“Investigated as a criminal mischief case” – We all know if it were a church with predominantly minority membership that was vandalized with Nazi graffiti it would be investigated as a hate crime. I believe that any church (no matter what race the membership is) that is vandalized with graffiti such as this should be investigated as a hate crime.
John I agree 100%
I do hope the vandals are caught and hit with severe (yes, possibly even hate crime) level penalty. We have to support one another in these situations. Wrong is just wrong.
Give the police department a chance. They will catch this idiot. I suspect the person will regret ever doing this hateful,
uneducated crime.