By Currents News and Paula Katinas
Police are asking for the public’s help in finding a male suspect who walked into Immaculate Conception Church in Astoria and smashed a statue of the Baby Jesus following Mass on April 6.
The incident is being investigated as a hate crime by the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force.
Police said the unidentified individual walked into the church, located at 21-47 29th St., at approximately 1:05 p.m. and smacked a religious statue to the floor, causing it to break into pieces. The individual then left the church and fled the scene on a bicycle.
Msgr. Fernando Ferrarese, the pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, said the man arrived at the conclusion of the noon Spanish-language Mass and approached a priest who was talking to parishioners on the sidewalk outside the church.
“The priest who did the Mass was outside greeting the people, and this young man came on a Citi Bike and stopped there and went up to the priest and said just one word, ‘Die,’ ” Msgr. Ferrarese said.
The suspect then entered the church and walked up to the altar area, where a deacon was blessing a statue of the Baby Jesus that a woman had brought to church to be blessed.
“The deacon was in the process of blessing [the statue],” Msgr. Ferrarese said. “It had been placed on the altar rail, and this young man came up to where the deacon was blessing the statue and hit the statue off the altar rail. It crashed to the floor and broke.”
The deacon tried to hold the suspect there, but the man got away and left the church through a side door and fled the scene on a Citi Bike. No one was injured in the incident.
Police from the 114th Precinct responded to a 911 call from a parishioner and questioned witnesses.
According to Msgr. Ferrarese, the suspect, is the same man who came into the church on April 1, and spat into a Holy Water font.
If he could speak to the suspect, “I would want to know why (he’s) so angry,” Msgr. Ferrarese said.
“The spitting in the holy water font, the breaking of the statue of Baby Jesus, the going up to the priest and saying the word ‘die,’ speaks of someone who is very, very angry,” he added.
As for the parishioner whose statue was smashed, she was upset about the incident but was also undaunted, according to Msgr. Ferrarese — “She said she’ll buy another statue.”