The Calgary police arson unit has been called in to investigate after a Molotov cocktail was thrown through the window of a church in southwest Calgary early Thursday morning, Jan. 9, 2025.
Police say they were called out reports of a fire at 4:35 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, located at 10923 24 St. S.W.
When they arrived on scene they discovered a Molotov cocktail had been thrown through a window of the building.
Luckily, firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire.
Congregation member, Gustov Mesen, who has lived in the area for seven years, told Global News the church has been the target of vandals several times over the past year.
There’s been some graffiti happening on the walls around the building, some people have been vandalizing by dumping the contents of those industrial vacuums in front of the doors and there were quite a few bags of of dog waste that were thrown on the roof in the front of the church and all along the front lawn as well,” said Mesen.
He estimates there are about 400 people who attend the Mormon church and he describes the vandalism as an attack on their freedom of religion.
“We don’t really mess with anybody. We like to exercise our faith and practice our beliefs in the way that we like to do it. I know that a lot of people are not very amicable towards people in my faith, and I’ve experienced that all my life,” said Mesen. “It’s kind of impeding our exercise of our free speech and freedom of being able to believe whatever we want.”
A hole in the window of a Mormon church in SW Calgary after police say someone threw a molotov cocktail at the building early in the morning of Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025.
The church’s director of communications, Greg Stringham, said luckily “the building’s alarm systems caught it very quickly — and thanks to the emergency response personnel who came very quickly — the damage was minimal.”
He just hopes police can find out who is responsible, so church members can understand their rationale.
Police say the CPS Hate Crimes Prevention Team is working alongside investigators.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact police at 403-266-1234.
Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), online at www.calgarycrimestoppers.org or through the Crime Stoppers app, P3 TIPS, which is available at your app store.