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
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