© Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
(New York, NY) — Parishioners at a Bensonhurst, Brooklyn church say they are ready to forgive a vandal who took a hammer to religious statues and smashed the front glass door to their chapel on Monday. Police say Randy Maldonado was caught soon after the vandalism spree at St. Dominic Church on Bay Ridge Parkway. The statues destroyed are covered up today, the glass door is boarded up. The church is trying to figure out how to pay for all the damage that was done.
Parishioners say they feel for Maldonado, who has been charged with criminal mischief and possession of a weapon. They want him to get the help he needs to make sure he never attacks a church again. Police don’t believe the church was targeted, because he also damaged a bus stop and a traffic signal as part of a vandalism spree.
