Twitter/Tyler White
Police are searching for suspects who defaced the walls of two churches in San Antonio with graffiti reading, “No to wall” and “Islam or Die.”
FoxSanAntonio.com is reporting on the incidents which took place on Monday at Gethsemane Lutheran Church and Saint Gregory the Great Catholic Church. Both churches had the same graffiti spray painted on the walls along with an unknown symbol stenciled beneath.
“This is something else,” said Gethsemane pastor Eric Miletti to San Antonio Express-News. “They did put some time into this.”
The vandalism was spotted on the brickwork near the main entrance by a church member who was tending to a pumpkin patch the church sponsors. Miletti immediately contacted law enforcement and filed a report.
“I didn’t understand what the wall had to do with the ‘Islam or Die’,” said church member Anthony Boulan, who saw the graffiti and spoke to Fox. “But evidently whoever put it there had some kind of statement to make.” Boulan noted: “When I actually read what it said, it kinda hurt, you know?”
St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church nearby had the same graffiti sprayed on its walls.
According to Breitbart, San Antonio has been suffering a spate of similar attacks on churches in the past year. In 2015, a Jewish synagogues was attacked by vandals who scrawled ethnic slurs such as “KKK”, swastikas and curse words on the property. Approximately 30 houses, city structures and vehicles in the surrounding neighborhood were also defaced. Days later, another Jewish synagogue was defaced with words such as “Jew Jew” spray painted on a storage shed.
At the time, Governor Greg Abbott said, as part of a written statement obtained by Breitbart Texas, “Religious discrimination has no place in the State of Texas and I have faith that law enforcement spearheading this investigation will redouble their efforts to swiftly bring those responsible to justice.”
Meanwhile, San Antonio police are still investigating the latest incident.
“We need to pray for peace,” Mellit said. “We need to talk about peace, and we need to help everyone.”
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