Bearded man filmed vaulting into NYC Catholic Church yard to smash statue of Virgin Mary to smithereens with hammer

By LAUREN ACTON-TAYLOR, US NEWS REPORTER Published: 15:37, 6 August 2026 | Updated: 15:37, 6 August 2026 Security footage from a New York City Catholic Church captured the moment a man leapt over its gate and smashed a Virgin Mary statue with a hammer in the dead of night. A bearded and masked man was seen vaulting the fence of the Saint Rita Roman Catholic Church in Long Island City in Queens just before 2am on Saturday.  In under 30 seconds, the man, in shorts and a T-shirt, climbed the church fence into its courtyard, before brandishing a hammer from his pocket and striking the statue.  The Virgin Mary statue toppled over into the flowerbed as its head broke off and rolled onto the floor. The suspect was then seen scaling the fence again and walking away from the scene.  The Diocese of Brooklyn announced that the incident marked the fourth attack on the church since 2024.  'Previous incidents included the smashing of a 60-year-old stained-glass window; the defacing of a statue of St Francis of Assisi and the sidewalk with graffiti; and the damage of a statue of St Jude located inside the church,' officials said in a release.  The New York City Police department are investigating the incident as a potential hate crime. A man was seen on security footage vaulting the fence of the Saint Rita Roman Catholic Church in Long Island City just before 2am on Saturday and striking a statue of the Virgin Mary With one blow, the Virgin Mary statue toppled over into the flowerbed as its head broke off and rolled onto the floor, footage from around 1.42am showed The Diocese of Brooklyn announced that the incident marked the fourth attack on the church since 2024 'This week, the NYPD also issued a crime stats update and hate crimes are up by 9.4 percent over the same seven-month period of last year,' John Quaglione, the deputy press secretary for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, told Fox News.  The Diocese of Brooklyn said no arrests have been made so far in connection with the attack.  Parishioner Carmen González said: 'It's shocking, because we walk by here and we don't know who's standing next to us to do the damage they just did to the church, coming here to do damage simply for the sake of it.' Last November, the church was also attacked when someone vandalized a picture of Saint Anthony and scrawled writing on the floor, Fox 4 New York reported.  Another church attendee, César Colindres said the attacks were 'truly awful.' 'It is truly regrettable for us believers that the image of the Virgin Mary was attacked in such a grotesque way,' he said. The man climbed into the church courtyard before brandishing a hammer from his pocket and striking the statue and scaling the fence again and walking away  The Daily Mail reached out to the Diocese of Brooklyn, the Saint Rita Roman Catholic Church and the NYPD for comment.  Local parishioner Margarita added that churchgoers don't understand why the building is being attacked. Those are kids who don’t believe in God and others who are addicted to drugs, why would they harm the church?' she said.