On Monday morning church members with Our Lady of Guadalupe found themselves cleaning up shards of glass inside the church after vandals struck one of their double-layered glass windows with a large stone.
It was around 8:30 Monday morning when the church secretary first spotted the mess. Shortly after, Lubbock Police were called to investigate. Fortunately, the church had surveillance cameras set up around the church and were able to catch the incident all on camera.
It was just after 11 p.m. on Sunday when a group of three young men were spotted walking around the front of the church. At one point, one of the suspects runs to pick up a rock and hurls it at one of the church’s windows. The suspect approaches the window and attempts to kick some of the glass in.
Shortly after, one of the suspects throws the rock again in an effort to clear the window some more. Two of the young men step inside the church through the now open window, while another stays outside to keep a look-out, before entering the church as well.
The trio doesn’t stay in the church for too long. About thirty seconds later, they all emerge and flee the scene.
Both police and Father Martin Piña of the church confirm the suspects did not take anything, but are still curious as to what it could have been they were looking for in the first place.
“Maybe they just got afraid because they didn’t take anything, we don’t see nothing missing. When they ran out, they ran out quickly,” said Fr. Piña. “I believe in 30 seconds they ran out, so it was just an act of vandalism for no reason.”
While the vandals were not able to leave with anything, they did still wind up costing the church $2,000 worth in damages, Fr. Piña says.
“They did something that damaged themselves, the community and the church, because they ultimately they damaged everything that we are,” said Fr. Piña. “We’re people who respect, who believe and who want to be able to respect one another, so they failed to respect their own community. Their own people who live here.”
While Piña says he doesn’t recognize either of the young men from the video, he believes they may live close by since it appears they walked to the church.
Individuals did reach out to EverythingLubbock regarding the crime and say they believe they know those responsible, leaving names behind of the possible suspects. We have passed those names along to Lubbock Police. Once confirmed by LPD, we will release the names of the suspects.
If you have any additional tips that may be helpful to police, you can leave a tip with them anonymously at 741-1000.