Arrest in vandalism of churches, synagogue

[hrmjustin]

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Police arrested a man in connection with the vandalism to a number of houses of worship in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Tuesday morning.

55-year-old Chris Papadimitropoulos is charged with six counts of criminal mischief as a hate crime, 12 counts of criminal mischief and 12 counts of making graffiti.

All of the incidents happened overnight.

Eagle eyed officers spotted the suspect on the street wearing the same clothes he was on the surveillance video.

Read more at http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=9189629

St Anselm is where I was baptized and received my sacraments before I became Episcopalian. This was heartbreaking.

[MADem]

1. "At the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church, paint covers the front doors and walk."

You know, when I saw the guy's name, I was wondering if he wasn't going off on a "My Team Is Better Than Your Team" bender.

Now, what I think, is that this guy has the same issues as the lady with the green paint all over the Lincoln Memorial and National Cathedral down in DC.

WTF is up with paint vandals lately? And red in NY, green in DC? Are we doing stoplights, or Christmas?

I suppose it's better than firebugs, but damn...

[hrmjustin]

2. Heartbreaking! When I woke up to this I was horrified.

[MADem]

3. If it's just paint, they can fix it. SERVPRO....like it never even happened!!!

I'll bet a lot of the clergy have relationships with the police; they'll know the best crime-scene cleanup crews to call.

I'm glad they caught the guy.

I remember a few months ago there was a nutter running through apartment buildings lighting mezuzahs on fire--he could have killed people.

The guy has a crazy idea or ten in his head. They'll involuntarily admit him as a psych inpatient and he'll be under observation for a couple of months.

[hrmjustin]

4. I remember that.

Just sad. But yes the paint can hopefully be removed. I hope he gets the help he needs.

[MADem]

5. He'll get at least two months of help! Here's hoping he comes to an understanding that he needs

more in that time...!

[hrmjustin]

6. Yep! The clergy said they could forgive.

[longship]

7. Good! This atheist despises this shit!

Desecration is a despicable thing. It doesn't just malign religion; it is nothing more or less than an ignorant attempt to wipe out culture.

The worst of this was the blowing up of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan by their Islamic government.

I would proudly stand next to my theistic brethren as an atheist to preserve our religious culture. To destroy that is to deny history.

Throw the fucking book at the guy.

[shenmue]

8. Glad they got him

Too bad he had nothing better to do with his time.