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The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced on Monday that it was launching an investigation after a Catholic school in Long Beach, California, was broken into and vandalized.
“The @CivilRights will open an investigation into this awful crime,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said on X.
The Holy Innocents Catholic School was desecrated after its assembly hall, chapel and classrooms were broken into, school officials said.
Statues were smashed, images of Mary and other religious figures were destroyed and a photograph of the pope was knocked to the floor, images of the destruction show.
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The vandalism also includes defecation on school grounds, as well as partially consumed food and drinks left behind, allowing authorities to conduct DNA tests as they search for suspects, according to Fox 11.
Local police and the FBI have been contacted about the incident.
Investigators said the church suffered an estimated $100,000 in damages from the break-in, Fox 11 reported.
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“Statues smashed. Images of Our Lady destroyed. The tabernacle thrown to the floor. This is one of the worst cases of vandalism the local bishop has ever seen. Hatred of Christ only destroys hearts. Pray for this school,” Lila Rose, president of pro-life group Live Action, wrote on X.
Members of the church said they were heartbroken after learning about the desecration.
“There are crucifixes. There are statues of the Blessed Mother. The tabernacle itself was taken and thrown on the floor and the Sacred House is there. That, to me, is more traumatizing than anything else. It’s not just the material things. It’s the heart behind the things,” Holy Innocents school principal Cyril Cruz told Fox 11, adding that “evil is out there, so we need to pray.”
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A GoFundMe launched to support the school has raised nearly $60,000 as of Tuesday morning.
“What appears to have been multiple perpetrators smashed statues and ruined images of our Lady, other statues as well, and threw the tabernacle down … Bishop Mark Trudeau said that it is the worst case of vandalism that he’s ever seen in the region,” the fundraiser reads.
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