The NYPD has released surveillance footage of an unidentified man who vandalized several religious statues at a Greenwich Village church earlier this week.
In the video, the man can be seen chucking three large cement statues at a representation of the Virgin Mary in the garden of the St. Anthony of Padua Church on Sullivan Street, before casually hopping the fence and strolling west on Houston. The incident was reported to police just after midnight on June 26th.
"A very angry man, that's all I can say," Pastor Mario Julian told ABC 7 at the time. "I don't know what else I can say. I can't get in his mind. Very angry, and he saw the statues there and decided, this is what I'm going to do."
According to Julian, all four statues sustained damage, and could cost between $8,000 to $10,000 to repair. "I said to the policemen, it's going to take six of you to get this guy," the pastor added. "He looked big to me."
The St. Anthony of Padua Church is the first Italian parish founded in all of New York State, and the second in the United States, according to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. The church has been featured in a number of films, including the Godfather II, Moonstruck, and The Pope of Greenwich Village.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
