Buffalo police have arrested a man they suspect of knocking down a statue of the Virgin Mary in front of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church and are charging him with two counts of third-degree criminal mischief. One of the counts categorizes it as a hate crime.
Police said they lodged the hate crime charge against Michael Manns, 40, of Buffalo, after an investigation determined that the church was specifically targeted.
The incident was reported to police at 8:45 p.m. on June 29. After an investigation, patrol officers and detectives in the D District on Hertel Avenue said Friday they arrested a person of interest.
A video camera outside the church at 500 Parker Ave. captured the incident. In the recording, a man walks up to the statue in broad daylight and proceeds to push and pull it until he knocks it off its pedestal into bushes on the property. He then walked away from the scene.
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A post on Facebook displays the video of the incident and notes that the statue has been put back on its pedestal outside the church.
The statue and the stone shelf that it sits on were damaged, causing thousands of dollars in damages, said Craig E. Speers, director of New York State Ancient Order of Hibernians District Two.
A Rosary prayer hour was held on Saturday morning around the statue in light of the incident.
In an email exchange with Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia, Speers called the act a hate crime by a “terrorist.” He said the mission of the person who committed the act was to “instill fear in the faithful.”
“The incident has badly shaken our quiet community in North Buffalo,” Speers, a former St. Rose of Lima vice president, said in the email to Gramaglia.
Speers views the attack as part of a pattern of attacks on Catholic churches.
The Family Research Council, an evangelical activist group, has recorded 69 attacks on churches in the first quarter of this year, which is three times what they recorded in 2022.
The council’s first quarter 2023 supplemental report called “Hostility Against Churches” said that it found 420 documented acts of hostility including vandalism, arson and gun-related incidents occurred between January 2018 and September 2022.
“It makes me feel very anxious and fearful for the safety of Catholic Christeners both in the area, the state and nationwide,” Speers said.
Reach A.J. Franklin at ajfranklin@buffnews.com.
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2023-07-09 22:00:00Z
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