Police seek suspect after Calgary church statue vandalized

Calgary police are trying to identify a man believed to be responsible for vandalizing a statue at a church last week.

Police allege a man approached the front of the Sacred Heart Church located at 1307 14 Street S.W. last Thursday around 5:30 p.m. and damaged to a religious statue. Officers said the man then fled the scene on foot.

According to police, the suspect is a man, around five feet 11 inches tall, with a slim build and possible tattoos on his left arm. He was wearing an orange T-shirt, baseball cap, sunglasses, dark construction pants and construction boots at the time of the incident.

The Calgary Police Service’s hate crime and extremism team said it doesn’t know what motivated the incident.

“A hate crime is a criminal offence committed against a person or property, which is motivated in whole or part by the suspect’s hate, bias or prejudice towards an identifiable group,” CPS stated in a release on Friday morning.

“Any evidence of hate motivation is considered by the courts after a person is found guilty of the connected crime. If the judge decides during sentencing that hate was a motivation for the offence, it is an aggravating factor that can add to the convicted person’s sentence.”

Anyone with information can call police at 403-266-1234 or submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers.