Alleged Brooklyn church vandal who smashed statue caught on camera

WILLIAMSBURG, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Police in Brooklyn are searching for a vandal caught on camera destroying a statue of an angel outside a church, and authorities say this isn't the first time that vandals have struck the same target.

The incident happened outside Our Lady of Consolation on Metropolitan Avenue around 4 a.m., when the man seen on surveillance walked up to a set of statues and pulled one angel to the ground. After smashing it, he calmly walked away.

"Maybe some kind of joke, maybe some kind of manifestation, I have no idea," pastor Fr. Wlodimierz Las said. "They broke it on a spiritual place, just like that."

Fr. Las has, unfortunately, seen this type of vandalism before. Some of statues, donated by a parishioner, have been previously replaced. In 2010, one angel was damaged, followed by two others in 2013.

"We put the cameras after the first incident," Fr. Wlodzimierz said. "And after the second incident, we put in more lights."

But even with video, the second time, no arrest was ever made. In the latest incident, the suspect actually turns toward the camera, showing his face, and police and church officials are hoping that leads to an arrest.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).