Albuquerque church vandalized again, 7 times in less than 3 weeks
Congregation fears church is being targeted
Congregation fears church is being targeted
Congregation fears church is being targeted
Members of a New Mexico church said their building has been the victim of vandalism a total of seven times in less than three weeks. The most recent vandalism happened Monday night.
The congregation said they didn't even have time to fix what was already damaged before it happened again. At the altar of the Metropolitan Community Church sits every rock that has caused damage to the building.
"We've never had any of this done the whole time I've attended this church and I've been here for quite a while," said church board member Andy Najar.
The Metropolitan Community Church has been at its location on Texas Street for 18 years and this is the first time itsd experienced such vandalism.
"We're not too sure what is going on, if someone is upset with us or if it's the fact that this is a church that serves the LGBTQ community," Najar said.
There are shattered windows and glass on the ground from the first six vandalism incidents and Monday, there was another incident. That makes seven in the past two weeks. They said someone took a rock, threw it through the window on the front door, knocking the newly installed plexiglass right out.
"We really haven't had the time to heal because it keeps happening," Najar said.
Albuquerque police are looking into these incidents. They said the next step would be to look into implementing a new crime prevention plan in the area.
"For the person that's doing this, it's like, number one, please stop number. Number two, we forgive you," Najar said.
APD wants to set up a video trailer in the area. They hope that will help figure out who's vandalizing the church. That trailer should be ready by Friday. Church board members said it will cost an estimated $5,000 to fix the damage and that doesn't include buying new security cameras.